


Infected

by orphan_account, StoryJoker



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Overprotective Tadashi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2018-03-11 01:09:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3310226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account, https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoryJoker/pseuds/StoryJoker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's just a young boy with his older brother and aunt. He went to sleep one night only to be told that he had to move away in the middle of the night. They told him it would be all right...</p><p>He's just a young boy with his little brother and aunt. He witnessed his aunt shooting his parents in the head and it scared him.</p><p>It scared everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In the Beginning...

It was a cold night and little 7-year-old Hiro was curled up on his older brother's bed, cuddling into his warmth. Tadashi Hamada, meanwhile, was still awake, unable to fall asleep, so he listened for any sound outside—a habit he had never been able to grow out of.

Their parents had gone out and left them in the care of their Aunt Cass. It had all been very peaceful until Tadashi heard said aunt running up the stairs, holding a gun and locking their bedroom door. When he faced her, she was pointing the weapon at the door like it was a criminal.

"Aunt Cass, what's going on?"

"Don't make a sound," she whispered harshly, but there was no maliciousness towards him. She seemed more worried.

Hiro groaned in his sleep and shifted around and Tadashi wrapped his arms around his baby brother. The child woke up then and was about to ask what was wrong but Tadashi covered his mouth and shook his head. "Don't say a word," the teen whispered, almost pleading.

Suddenly aware that they were in a serious situation, Hiro nodded and put his hands over his brother's. They trembled when they realized they certainly weren't alone in the house. There were groans coming from downstairs and the smell became putrid. It was as if someone slept with tons of corpses, or maybe even was a rotting corpse.

After something hit the door, Aunt Cass tightened her grip on the gun, trying not to breathe too heavily. Hiro instantly buried his face into Tadashi's chest and whimpered, suddenly very scared. He wanted to pick up the phone and call the cops for help. They'd come, right? They had to help... right?

There was now pounding in the door and more groaning. Cass stood protectively in front of the boys and her finger was on the trigger. Finally, their one line of defense broke down and she shot two very familiar people in the head.

Tadashi wanted to scream, Aunt Cass just shot his parents! He opened his mouth to scream but she covered it and she was breathing heavily. "Get your brother ready. We have to get out of here right now!"

"Y-you just shot Mom and Dad," Tadashi pointed out, his voice cracking as he spoke. "I just saw them a couple of hours ago."

Cass shook her head. "They aren't your parents. Not anymore," she said sorrowfully. "Hurry and get only what we need: food, clothes, drinks, anything useful. We have to leave." She hurried downstairs to raid the fridge and part of the cafe, as well as gather all the bullets she could before the escape.

Tadashi helped Hiro up off the bed and pulled him along, telling him to grab two of his favorite items and some clothes. As they gathered, the elder brother listened for any more noise, in which the area was silent save for the screaming in the distance.

"Dashi, are we gonna die?" Hiro asked, a mix of curiosity and fear.

"No," Tadashi answered firmly. "We have Aunt Cass and she knows what she's doing. She'll protect us. Get a weapon."

"What about Mommy and Daddy? Auntie Cassie didn't hurt them too bad, right?" He had seen them fall, but he was sure their aunt wouldn't kill them. "We have to wake them up so they can come with us, Dashi."

Tadashi didn't answer. Instead, he packed his items in a backpack leaving enough room for food and water and he grabbed a long blade from his top shelf. Taking a pause from packing, he pulled Hiro away from the corpses of their parents.

"Dashi, why won't you help? They have to wake up!" Hiro whined, trying to get out of his brother's hold. "Mommy! Daddy!"

"They won't wake up, Hiro!" Tadashi exclaimed. "They can't. They aren't Mom and Dad anymore. Now, hurry and pack." He pushed an empty backpack towards Hiro. "We don't have much time." He tried not to sob when his brother began crying. "Please, listen to me, okay? We need to go. Get what I told you to get before we leave."

Hiro was looking back at his parents, their rotting corpses and soon he looked away, unable to take it in. He started packing food and water as well as a screwdriver because nothing beats a sharp screwdriver. "What happened to them, Dashi?"

Tadashi wasn't sure how to answer. "They're... just not Mom and Dad anymore," he whispered and helped his brother stick some clothes into the pack. "You want to bring anything else? Maybe your robot plush Mom gave you? Or some gummy bears?"

Hiro's sad expression melted away just a little at the mention of gummy bears. "Mommy's present and gummy bears?" He tightened his grip on Tadashi's hand. "Are you bringing anything, Dashi?"

"Maybe some tools and a first-aid kit," Tadashi replied, then he realized he hadn't had said items yet. He quickly retrieved them and stuffed them in his pack. Yes, he had a large backpack. "Well, I'm ready now." He handed Hiro some gummy bear bags and helped him fill up his own backpack. Now set, they made their way to the car where their aunt was stuffing more supplies.

Hiro sat in the backseat, playing with his own fingers and he was cold. "Dashi, Auntie Cassie, where are we going?" he asked. "Are we going on a road trip? Jungle? Are we gonna be superheroes?"

Tadashi would have laughed if the situation wasn't as bad as it was now. "No, Otouto. We're going to do something else."

"What? What is it?" Hiro's curiosity was getting the better of him. His brother hugged him and he welcomed the warmth. "We're not moving, are we? I still need to finish school!"

"We can't," Tadashi said. "We can't finish school, it's dangerous now."

Hiro was confused with that. What did that mean? "Dashi, I wanna finish school," he said, tugging at his brother's shirt sleeve. "I still have homework to do, too. Are we coming back on Monday? Will Mommy and Daddy wake up then?"

Tadashi shook his head. "We aren't coming back," he told him. He said nothing about their parents. "We're leaving forever." The car started and they were on their way to nowhere in particular. Tadashi glanced out the window and saw that everything was a mess. There was blood everywhere. People were screaming and there were others who were just walking slowly after the panicked ones, the ones that were alive. The teen didn't understand it at first, why did they all look so  _dead_?

Hiro also happened to look outside, but then squeaked and buried his face into his brother's arm. "Dashi, I'm scared!" he whimpered. "Why do they look scary?" The slow people had the same look their parents had. Why did they all look like that?

"Don't look, Hiro," Tadashi said, tightening his hold on his little brother. "Don't look at them." He didn't tear his gaze away from the outside world. He covered Hiro's eyes and rubbed his back with his other hand.

They remained like this until the car stopped. "I'm going to get some gas. Don't move, you hear me?" Aunt Cass said as she got out of the car. There were many other cars around and it was a wonder that they were able to get gas at all. Everyone around them was filling canister after canister.

Tadashi pulled out of the hug and looked at Hiro. He looked relieved to see other survivors. "Dashi, are they alive? Will they be alive when this is over?"

If this is over, the teen thought miserably. "U-uh yeah..."

"Promise?" Hiro held out his pinky. "You're not lying to me?" He smiled when his brother's pinky intertwined with his own and they shook on it. "Okay, I believe you."

Tadashi waited until Aunt Cass came back with the gas and he brought his knees up to his chest. He'd been trying to figure out how this all happened in the first place but it was beyond him.

"Aunt Cass, what happened to them?" he asked.

"I don't know. They just appeared out of nowhere," she replied, looking sadly at Tadashi. "There are so many of these walking around..." She started the car again and they all made their way to the freeway, which was also crowded. It didn't help that some people got so impatient that they left their cars behind, adding to the blockage.

"Aren't they going to catch up now?" Tadashi asked. "We aren't even moving."

Hiro looked up at his brother curiously. "Do you mean the scary people?" he asked before turning toward their aunt. "Auntie Cassie, are you gonna let the scary people get us?"

Tadashi was right. They  _were_  moving slower than the corpses and the cars around them have now been abandoned. She looked back at her nephews and smiled reassuringly at them. "Don't worry. I won't let them get you two, all right? We'll have to continue on foot," she said as she undid her seatbelt and got out of the car, taking her backpack. Moments later, she opened one of the backdoors for them. "C'mon, grab your things and go."

Tadashi grabbed his backpack and blade and pulled Hiro out of the car with him. "Come on, Otouto," he said. "We're gonna run."

Hiro nodded and gripped his screwdriver tightly, hoping he'd never have to use it. "Okay, Nii-chan." He looked up at Aunt Cass and held her hand, smiling up at her reassuringly. Seeing this, Tadashi sighed and hoped that his brother would never have to see what was really happening. He didn't want him to stop smiling.

Cass looked back and saw the corpses coming their way. "We're gonna run now. Whatever you do, do  _not_  look behind you. Tadashi, go first." With a gun in one hand and Hiro's hand in the other, she waited for her older nephew to run a fair distance before quickly following. They couldn't run forever, she knew, but maybe they could gain a fair distance and then hide before the corpses can see them.

Hiro looked up at Aunt Cass and said: "That only makes me want to look back even more." She gave him a slightly annoyed look and he instantly shut up. Okay, not the time.

When Tadashi moved to the farthest distance he could while still being able to alert Aunt Cass, Hiro saw him pull out his blade and keep up a guard. Hiro looked back at his aunt and then pulled her along to run.

Before long, however, he was starting to get tired. The backpacks didn't make anything easier. Suddenly remembering an idea from a TV show she watched, Cass shouted to Tadashi: "Get under the cars!" The teenager in front either had the same idea or heard her, for he slipped under a vehicle. Catching up to his location, Cass pushed Hiro underneath another car before she hid herself. They would have to wait out the wave.

Hiro looked at the feet that slowly passed by and he covered his mouth to keep himself from screaming. They were so close and he was alone. Aunt Cass and Tadashi were under different cars... Would they be able to live through this? "Dashi..." Hiro whispered behind his hand. "Dashi, help..."

Tadashi could see his brother panicking, though the child was facing away from him. If he could call out to him, he would have, but the corpses were still walking. He held his breath when one stopped, as if it heard Hiro.

When it got down on the ground and started to crawl under the car that Hiro was, his little brother did the one thing he shouldn't have done: he opened his mouth to scream. He didn't want to kill the corpse so instead he crawled to the front of the car and then behind the walker, knowing it would have a harder time to get to him. "Dashi...! Dashi!"

Tadashi immediately crawled out of his hiding place to pull Hiro out of his own, stabbing the corpse that had been after him in the process. There were others around, slowly walking towards them, and Tadashi kept his blade ready for when they got too close. His free arm was around his brother, making sure the child wasn't looking at the corpses.

Hiro hugged Tadashi and the tears soaked into his older brother's shirt as he cried, "Nii-chan." The 'scary men' had been pretty damn freaky when Hiro saw them from afar, just the thought of them being so close had only brought him to tears. The way the skin had been flayed and the blood spots on the face, the lost teeth and the horrible smelling breath, it scared Hiro half to death. He was so close to it... "Nii-chan, it was so scary..."

"Ssh... Everything will be fine, Hiro," Tadashi tried to assure him, but the corpses were getting closer. There was no way out.

Several gunshots cracked the air and some corpses fell. Without a moment to lose, Tadashi rushed with Hiro at the gap one of them left, proceeding to run toward Aunt Cass, who was holding a smoking gun.

"Are you two all right? I shouldn't have left you alone!" she said worriedly, refilling the gun and preparing to fire more bullets. Tadashi decided to have her save some of the ammo by rushing at the corpses and cutting a few down, careful not to get caught by them.

Hiro hugged Aunt Cass and wiped his tears away. He was too scared to let go of her now, having witnessed something so horrifying. "Auntie Cassie, don't leave," he begged, his tiny voice cracking.

Aunt Cass covered his eyes and watched as her 14-year-old nephew killing the walking corpses and dodging scratches all over. He stabbed one while he kicked another in the stomach, knocking it back and putting some distance so he could have more time to recover. Signing him up for karate classes was a great idea and at this moment, Cass had no regrets.

Hiro blinked behind the hand and bit his lip, hoping that he wouldn't scream. "Auntie Cassie, is Dashi gonna be okay?"

Cass wasn't sure how to answer, but breathed a sigh of relief when Tadashi managed to get rid of the remaining zombies. Fortunately, only a small group had come to the bridge. "He's fine," she said, but did not uncover Hiro's eyes.

Tadashi returned to them, covered in blood and breathing heavily. "Is Hiro okay?" he asked, sighing when Aunt Cass nodded. "Let's keep moving." He returned to his and Hiro's hiding spots to retrieve their backpacks.

Hiro held Tadashi's hand so tight it made it turn white. "Dashi, I don't like this," he mumbled. "I wanna go home. I want Mommy and Daddy." The teen looked down sadly at Hiro, but didn't answer. "I wanna go back to school, Dashi," the child continued. He gripped the left strap of his backpack as tight as he held his brother's hand. "I wanna finish my homework, too." Tadashi's grip on Hiro's hand didn't loosen, either. His fingers felt cold but it was understandable, he supposed. "Is Auntie Cassie okay? She looks sick."

Tadashi could only hug Hiro tightly. "I know, I know. I want to see Mom and Dad and go to school too, but we can't anymore," he said, patting his brother's back. He looked up at their aunt at the last question.

"I'm fine," Cass answered for him. "Let's keep going. We're way behind." Everyone else had run far ahead while they had been fighting off the corpses. She followed behind the brothers as they walked forward. This was only the first day... Could they survive the rest?


	2. Seven Years Later

"Tadashi, what's in here?" Hiro asked as he tried to adjust his pack so that it dug less into his back. "Because it's really heavy." They both jumped down off the roof they were on and started towards their hideout. Turns out an infected wandered in and he froze up, scared.

Tadashi quickly moved in front of his brother and pulled out his blade, aged yet still quite sharp. The infected glared at him and made its way toward him, not heeding the warning. A swift cut later, its body was on the ground, its head sliced in two, and Tadashi was covered in blood.

"Let's go, Hiro. Aunt Cass is waiting," he said as he waited for his brother to move forward first.

Hiro couldn't move, he was staring down at the infected, large amounts of fear evident in his brown eyes. He was too scared to even move.

"Dashi..." He went back and forth all the time from the dead undead and Tadashi.

The elder brother only looked at him reassuringly and held out a hand to him, having already sheathed the blade. "It's dead, Hiro.  _Really_  dead, this time. It won't hurt you," he said softly. When his brother still didn't move, Tadashi took Hiro's hand and started pulling him toward their living space.

Tadashi never let him fight the infected and it wasn't like he ever wanted to anyways. His first encounter with the infected traumatized him and now he had a fear of them, which sucked because this world required you to be fearless.

When the door closed, Hiro finally started to get control over his body. He shivered a bit and dropped the bag on the floor. He didn't want to really bother Tadashi so he quickly walked past him and up to their room.

No words were spoken much anymore. Hiro only called for help when he was around infected, which was understandable. Having seen one so close at such a young age can scare you.

Tadashi set his own bag down and began sorting through them. An assortment of canned foods, medicine, and mechanical materials were organized before he made off to put them away. What did he need the materials for? That was a secret.

As he was putting the food away in the kitchen, he was greeted with a hug from none other than their Aunt Cass.

"You should get cleaned up," she said to him, taking note of the still-fresh blood on his clothes. "I'll put away the rest. Go change."

Tadashi nodded and walked up to the room he'd shared with Hiro. It looked almost how their old room looked but only dirtier. Tadashi missed the peaceful days... He missed seeing the cute little Hiro he grew up with.

"Dashi," a small voice called out. Tadashi instantly turned his head only to see his baby brother curled up into a ball and  _sleeping_  for once. He hadn't slept while Tadashi was awake so this was a surprise. "Dashi, help."

Those words were very haunting. They had been Hiro's pleas just before one of the corpses attacked him seven years ago.

Tadashi quickly changed his clothes before he approached Hiro and lied down next to him. "Dashi's right here," he whispered into his ear, hoping it would reach his nightmare. He pulled him into a protective embrace and rubbed his back as if it may help.

Closing his eyes, Tadashi tried to simulate for himself the night they had first encountered the infected, the night of their escape. This time, however, he was hiding under a car with Hiro, not separated from him, so he could comfort his brother until the horde walked away from them all.

"Dashi..." Hiro gripped Tadashi's shirt tightly and let out a shaky breath. "Dashi." He often had nightmares whenever he let himself fall asleep. The dark circles weren't just from the stress of this world, you know. He never let himself sleep for more than three hours. It was a very unhealthy sleeping routine.

"It's okay, buddy," Tadashi said, combing his fingers though Hiro's hair. "It's okay, Nii-chan's got you. Nii-chan's right here."

Hiro seemed to calm down then, no longer quietly calling, but even then Tadashi did not dare to let go. Besides, with how tightly his brother was holding onto his shirt, it was unlikely that he would be able to get away anyways. So, he remained in bed, his brother's huggable dream catcher.

After some time, Hiro's grip on Tadashi's shirt loosened and soon he was relaxed in to the hug, indicating that the nightmare was finally over. Tadashi still didn't move, not really. He shifted a little to get into a more comfortable position but that was all he did. He would wait until Hiro woke up.

A small meow attracted Tadashi's attention and he turned his head to see a large calico jump onto his chest. It was Mochi, a cat they had adopted a few years ago. He (apparently male calicoes existed) had followed them since their first encounter and they didn't have the heart to ditch him, so they now had a pet, essentially.

Hiro liked that cat when he was young, he always played around with it whenever Tadashi went out. He remembered the day he found Mochi sitting on top of Hiro and the little boy was eating his food on the ground, laying on his stomach. Tadashi almost wished that he had a camera to take a picture. "Hey, Mochi," he said, petting the cat.

Mochi purred as he settled on Tadashi. "Mrow..." The three stayed in their positions, with two snoozing comfortably. This almost felt... normal.

"Shuddup, tryina sleep 'ere," Hiro mumbled to no one. There had been no sound, nothing, but he still told them to shut up. Well isn't that nice. Tadashi chuckled and mentally corrected Hiro's sentence.

Tadashi had nearly dozed off when his brother woke up, only escaping the pull to Dreamland when his brother stirred. "Hey Hiro, got a good sleep?" he asked, though it was obvious it was not the case. He ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Anyway, it's a bit late. Want to have some dinner?"

The teen grumbled and sat up. He picked up Mochi and hugged the life out of the cat. Not literally, but you know what I mean... "Sleep was okay and dinner sounds good." He stood up off the bed while still hugging Mochi and walked down to where Aunt Cass was.

Tadashi frowned and sighed as he got up to follow. The Hiro he knew would have made a joke or some snarky comment. Then again, the Hiro he knew had been disappearing for a while. The constant nightmares didn't help.

Hiro felt tired despite having just woken up from sleep. Constant nightmares didn't count as a good night's sleep, really. Sometimes he wished he had good dreams for once but a majority of the time he just wanted to get through the night like it was just a couple of seconds. Morning naps last longer than night sleeps...

Breaking from his thoughts, Hiro sighed and sat at their table, picking at the food that had been set down in front of him. Recalling the way that infected  _thing_  looked, the thing from his nightmare, he instantly lost his appetite. Even though he felt like puking now, he still forced his food down, just so that he didn't waste anything that Aunt Cass provided for him.

Tadashi took a seat next to his brother. Today, the meal was moldy bread and canned beans that, for some reason, were recently packed. Maybe there was a safe zone nearby? These years, they had only heard of these safe zones, but he never thought any existed. Maybe there was one nearby where whoever owned the cans before had gotten supplies. Could their wandering finally come to a stop?

Hiro ate quietly, occasionally having to force down something and then he'd take a moment to settle down before he went back to eating. Sometimes he slipped some beans to Mochi and ripped the mold off his bread before he actually ate it. It tasted disgusting but at least he had something to eat, that was all he could really focus on right now. When he finished three quarters of his plate, he pushed it away and stared down at the table.

Tadashi paused when he saw Hiro push away his not-empty plate. "Hiro, don't waste," he said, though only half-heartedly. This happened all the time, really. His brother never finished his food, even when there was hardly any there. When Tadashi had asked why, the only answer he got was that "it looked rotten." He could only imagine the corpse from years ago.

So to speak, Hiro hated rotten things. The food he would deal with only to survive, but after finishing a majority of it, he would look disgusted or afraid and push his plate away. Aunt Cass tried giving him smaller portions a few times, since she thought he probably didn't have that big of an appetite anyways, but that only resulted in him eating less. It was always three quarters of his plate.

"I feel like I'm eating one of them," Hiro finally muttered. "It looks rotten."

Tadashi put a hand on his shoulder. "They're just beans," he told him. "They're actually decent." He highly doubted Hiro would listen, but Tadashi kept trying, hoping for some improvement. "Just... finish them for once, won't you?" It was a wonder how Hiro could still manage to keep this mentality. Many others would be willing to eat  _anything_.

Hiro looked up at Tadashi for a second and then back at the beans. They  _did_  look rotten, maybe not like the corpses, but they still looked disgusting. Like the corpse. For a moment he felt like being stubborn again, he felt like he didn't want to eat anymore, but the way Tadashi looked at him made him feel a bit guilty about it. So, hesitantly, Hiro brought the plate back closer and, reluctantly, began to eat again.

Finally, some progress! Tadashi would have been happier if it didn't look like Hiro was suffering, but he supposed this can be taken one step at a time. He patted his brother's back now, as if to help him along. "Good boy."

All the while, Aunt Cass watched them silently, smiling to herself a bit. "I wonder if we need to move again soon," she said. "I saw a corpse walk dangerously close to here, and some people were eying the place. It might not be safe here anymore."

Hiro was too busy focusing on not throwing up the food that he was forcing down while Tadashi rubbed his back in a soothing manner. Half of the last quarter was finished and Hiro _really_  didn't want to eat anymore.

"But we just got used to this place," Tadashi said, taking his hand off of Hiro's back. "I like it here..." The younger Hamada only stared down at his food now, he looked really disturbed.

"I know, but you know how the circumstances are now," Cass said sadly. "I hope we can find a permanent home soon." She soon finished her dinner and stood to put the dishes in the sink. "Hiro, if you really don't want to, you don't have to finish." She was at least glad he was eating more, but she didn't want to bring him misery.

Hiro looked down at his plate and decided there wasn't a lot left, so he finished it up and swallowed it quickly to get it over with. Unfortunately, it was like those times when you eat or drink something you don't like, the taste settles in and suddenly you just want to throw up. That's how Hiro felt right now and he didn't like it at first, but later on he managed to suck it up and deal with it.

"Is there someone threatening us?" Tadashi asked, "because if there is, I can deal with them, you know, and Hiro can use his little fighter bot. We fought back that other guy, what's-his-face, Yami?"

"It was Yama," Hiro muttered spitefully.

"Just the fact that someone was looking at this place is threatening," Cass told them. "'Desperate times call for desperate measures,' as the saying goes, and some of those measures include seeing everything that moved as an enemy." They all knew this very well, if some of what they observed among other groups was any indication.

"We accepted Mochi and he moves," Hiro pointed out and messed with the cat's fur. "So does that mean we just went against a saying?" Tadashi chuckled as the cat started meowing and struggling against Hiro's hold, obviously against the idea of having his fur being all messed up. "Hush, Mochi, we're trying to talk." The cat only pawed at Hiro's hand and since his claws had been clipped, and it was just a bundle of fur, it actually looked kinda cute.

Smartass Hiro is back, and the thought made Cass smile. "In a way, I guess," she said as she started the water. "At least we haven't faced the consequences." She glanced out the window briefly, checking to see if anyone was outside, before closing the shutters.

Hiro let Mochi roam freely around their living space and he looked up at Tadashi as if asking permission to go upstairs. When he got the nod, he bolted and Tadashi sighed. The windows up there were still open. Hopefully he'd do the right thing and close it for once.


	3. Problems Follow Fred

Tadashi was helping Cass clean up the lower floor of their living space when they heard a gunshot, glass shattering, and a thump. At first they didn't think much of it because someone was probably shooting some walkers in the middle of the night but shortly after, there was a strangled cry from upstairs.

_Boom_! Another gunshot and the door opened and slammed shut. Hiro was running downstairs with a cut on his left cheek.

"Hiro!" Tadashi ran to his brother and checked him over. "Oh god... Did they get you anywhere else?" There didn't seem to be any other bullet wounds, but the elder Hamada wasn't taking any chances there. "Is someone trying to get here?"

"I don't know, they just thought it would be cool to shoot at the window," Hiro answered, sounding very annoyed. "You'd think that we could get some peace and quiet once in a while but once we're all settled in they go 'BOOM! LET'S SHOOT THE FAMILY'S CHILD'!"

Tadashi grabbed a gun and rushed upstairs in case some intruders were calling through the undoubtedly broken window. Sure enough, some bodies were attempting to get through and the man wasted no time shooting each and every one of them in the head. Well, almost all of them. The last one, with a beanie on his head, raised his hands in surrender.

Hiro ran up after him just so he didn't get himself into trouble and he saw Tadashi pointing a gun at a guy who didn't even look threatening.

"Don't shoot! I can turn into a Kaiju!" the boy yelled. The brothers looked at each other for a brief moment before they turned back to him.

"What?" Tadashi asked, sounding either confused or not in the mood for games. It was probably both.

"I can turn into a fire-breathing lizard at will."

"Dude, you're delusional." Hiro walked over to Tadashi and stood in front of him. His hand was on the gun and he slowly pushed it down so that the newcomer didn't feel threatened. When Tadashi got the message, he sent a cold towards the newcomer. "You have exactly two minutes to explain why the fuck you were with those guys."

The beanie guy didn't put down his hands. "Not like I wanted to be. They kinda forced me to be part of their group of buddies."

"Basically, they kidnapped you?" Tadashi asked as if trying to summarize the words.

The boy nodded and quickly stood up. "The name's Fred. It's nice to meet you, threatening man with a son."

Tadashi raised a brow at that and then looked down at Hiro, wrapping an arm protectively around his shoulders. "He's my otouto and I have a reason to be threatening right now." Hiro let Tadashi hug him, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to get out of it any time soon.

Fred raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar word. "Otouto? Like a soulmate or something?" As if worried that the "threatening man" was going to be offended, he took a step back. "Hey, I don't judge! The kid looks a bit young for you, but whatever floats your boat, I guess."

Tadashi had no idea how to answer to that. Did that guy really think that he was into kids? Did he say 'otouto'? "I meant he's my little brother. Stop getting worried, it isn't like that." Fred visibly sighed with relief and then he looked like he was going to laugh.

"My bad. I just thought—"

"Tadashi Hamada."

"What?"

"That's my name. Tadashi Hamada," Tadashi repeated, slightly amused at Fred's conclusion.

"Right, I knew that. And your brother's name is?" There was no answer, most likely because Hiro wasn't yet comfortable around this stranger.

Tadashi looked down at Hiro, who only shook his head and then back up at Fred. "We'll leave him out of this. First of all, because you were a prisoner, I'll let you stay here with us. Things you should know: if you hurt my little brother, I'll kill you; if you pull a gun on any of us, I'll break your neck; and if you point a knife at him or Aunt Cass, I'll break your arm. Under no circumstances should you threaten any of us. If you do, the pain inflicted upon you will be much worse than the fear you spread, understood?"

Fred didn't have to be told twice. "Right, right. No problemo," he said with a small salute. At least he now had a place to stay for a while. "I won't be here long, promise. I have a crew to get back to, after all." He felt free to take a seat on a nearby chair. "So, I'm guessing there's three of you? Tadashi, your brother, and your Aunt Cass?" It seems this Tadashi guy was very protective of the other two. That was very rare, especially at this time.

"What of it? Are you going to use that as an advantage to gang up against us?" Tadashi asked, still suspicious of Fred. Even if the guy didn't seem all that threatening, Tadashi had lived in this world long enough to know that some people are just better actors than others.

"Dashi, he's not going to hurt us, right?" Hiro asked quiet enough so that only Tadashi could hear him. "Is he gonna bring his friends to hurt us?"

Again, Fred had to defend himself. "Nothing like that! We're just another group of survivors, that's all. Like our own family, even," he said, and then he gave them a friendly smile. "We're not even that many, don't worry, and we'd never think to hurt kids. There has to be at least one group that keeps a moral code."

"You sure are giving us a bunch of information. How do we know you aren't lying?" Tadashi asked. "If you're as close as you say, wouldn't they stop at nothing to find you?"

"Stop at nothing, probably, but no  _drastic_   _measures_  or anything. You seem like a reasonable dude." Fred seemed to have let down his guard completely and Tadashi couldn't help wondering if he was an idiot or just confident of his judging of character.

Tadashi finally let go of Hiro but he didn't let Fred get within two feet of him, making sure he was in between them before he sent Hiro downstairs to where Aunt Cass was.

"Fine," he said. "You have three days to prove to me that you aren't acting like the others. Then I'll trust you completely. Until then. Make yourself at home and  _stay_   _away_   _from_   _the_   _weapons_." With that, he walked out of the room, wondering if this was the right thing to do.

Fred, at first, thought this guy was having a horrible day, but the realization dawned upon him that he acted exactly the same way one of his friends acted towards a couple of strangers. She was protective over everyone, making sure that they stayed alive and well.

He missed his friends, but maybe Tadashi would be okay. He just had to get the guy to trust him.

As Hiro walked downstairs, he was engulfed in the arms of his aunt. "Hiro! Are you and Tadashi okay? I heard gunshots," Aunt Cass said as she squeezed the life out of the poor teen before checking him over. "I think I found a bandage somewhere for that cut. I guess nothing happened?"

Hiro shook his head and smiled slightly. "Dashi became overprotective again. He killed five people." Aunt Cass grimaced at this. She wasn't proud that most of Tadashi's childhood consisted of violence and sometimes even murder, but she probably would have expected it. She listened to her nephew as he continued. "The sixth person is still alive. He isn't that bad, not really. Dashi doesn't trust him, though."

"Sixth person? Did Tadashi run out of bullets?" That was usually the only reason why some people lived longer when dealing with Tadashi. If his gun emptied, it gave people time to escape. Then again, it sounded like this sixth person didn't try to attack nor escape. "He's still up there, I assume?"

"Yes, sixth person, and no, Dashi didn't run out of bullets. He spared the guy's life." That was very unusual of Tadashi. He never spared lives, ever. If someone posed as a threat to the family, he'd kill them within an instant. "Oh, and yeah, he's still up there. They're both talking, I think. Unless Dashi killed him quietly."

At that moment, Tadashi walked down the stairs, reloading his gun. "He's going to stay with us as an acquaintance for three days. Once he proven that he isn't a threat, we'll keep him well-protected until his friends come along to pick him up." He forgot Aunt Cass didn't understand the situation, though, and hearing those words freaked her out.

"There are more of them?!" she would have screeched had she not remembered that it was night and the infected were out.

"Shush! Apparently there are, but he insists they retained their morals," Tadashi explained. "Something in my gut is telling me to trust him, and it ain't the beans." He set the gun on a desk and snarled a bit at his bloodied shirt. "I've got some bodies to get rid of."

Hiro looked at Tadashi, fear evident in his eyes. Was he going near the infected? "Tadashi—"

"I'll be up on the roofs, don't worry." Before Tadashi could move to retrieve the bodies, Hiro grabbed his arm and looked at him with wide eyes.

"No! What if there are more out there? What if they shoot you?"

Tadashi gently brushed him off. "I'll be fine. I've done this plenty of times."

"It only takes one..." What if his luck or skill ran out?

"I promise I'll be back before you know it, okay?" With that, Tadashi left to retrieve the bodies. They were all large, so he would need to make multiple trips. Grabbing one body, he dragged it with him outside and he left it on a street. The trail of blood was no problem, as the ground was so covered that it didn't make a difference. He repeated the process with the remaining bodies.

The infected had no problem with this, they... ate... happily? Do the infected even  _feel_  happy?

Hiro was locked inside the house under Mochi's not-so-watchful eye as Tadashi was out feeding the infected like a thousand dogs. Fred was conversing with Aunt Cass, both getting to know the other better until there was no more to tell. Cass felt as though she could trust this boy but the decision was Tadashi's as well, since he'd been the one taking care of Hiro. He was the one who protected him.

"You're a nice boy, Fred, by I'm afraid you still have to prove to Tadashi that you aren't considered a threat to my baby boy. He's very protective of him, especially after what had happened the first time we encountered another survivor."

Fred was curious, but knew better than to ask. "People are crazy nowadays. It's pretty cool. I mean, it's also scary, obviously, but how cool!" he chuckled to lighten the mood a bit. "It's nice to finally meet more nice people aside from my friends. It's been a long time."

Hiro continued to worry. After Tadashi had dragged off the last body, it had taken him a while to return. He wanted to check on him, but what if the infected were out there?

Of course the infected were out there but what if they got to him? What if they were eating him right now? What—

A pair of arms wrapped around him and he was pulled into a hug. "I'm back," a voice said. "You look like Aunt Cass when someone's staring at our living space. Anything you would like to share, otouto?"

Hiro couldn't help himself. He returned the embrace tightly. "Don't scare me like that, Dashi! What took you so long?" The fear was evident in his voice and he was a bit shaky. He clung to his brother's arm and would not dare let go. "Don't do that again!"

Tadashi laughed, but he didn't pull away. "Aww, sorry, baby boy," he laughed. "Turns out they were heavier than I thought they'd be." Hiro nodded slightly and hugged his brother tighter. The man sighed and patted his little brother's back. "Did I really scare you that much?"

Hiro didn't answer, only clinging even tighter. He didn't want to lose Tadashi like they lost their parents. From his understanding, infected people never become people again. They were as good as corpses. "You made sure no one followed, right?"

Tadashi wasn't sure how to answer that. Should he tell Hiro the truth or should he lie? He was too preoccupied with dragging those fat asses up on the roof to where the infected were that he totally forgot to make sure no one was following. He hoped today was going to be one of the lucky days. "Are you tired, Otouto?" he asked, making an attempt to avoid the question.

When Tadashi left a question unanswered, Hiro knew exactly what the answer was. It probably didn't matter now, since some intruders did try to come. "No. I slept recently, remember?" he said. "I guess we should pack."

"Not now," Tadashi said and flopped down on the bed Hiro was sitting on. "I'm way too tired to do this right now. I've had to carry a very heavy guy on the roof, I'm pretty ding dong damn tired right now."

Hiro raised a brow at that. "Seriously? 'Ding dong damn'?"

"Yes, seriously." He didn't say anything more and tried to fall asleep. Who cares if the bed was getting bloody? Feeling the bed move, he instinctively put an arm over Hiro, who had lied down next to him. "I thought you said you weren't tired."

"Dashi's tired," Hiro mumbled, no longer caring about the blood. At least it didn't belong to that of an infected. "We have work to do tomorrow, by the way. So we have to rest up anyways, right?"

Well, Tadashi couldn't argue with that. With a wordless nod, he dozed off. Early to bed, early to rise, as they all said. Today was just one of those draining days.

* * *

The next morning, Hiro refused to wake up. He was too busy sleeping peacefully for once to actually want to wake up. Tadashi didn't have the heart to shake him awake either. The looting could wait a couple more hours, right?

Of course, their peace could not last. Suddenly, the door slammed open and Fred barged in like he owned the place. "Wake up, sleepy heads! Your aunt wants you down for breakfast!" he announced excitedly as if he had always been a friend or something.

Hiro groaned and buried his face into Tadashi's chest, making an attempt to block out the sound. He was having such a good dream, too...

"Dude, can't you be a little quieter?" Tadashi asked, sounding slightly annoyed. "Tell Aunt Cass that Otouto is still sleeping, alright? Let him rest."

Fred just shrugged. "That's fine. You can come downstairs yourself and then—"

"We're both staying," Tadashi interrupted quickly.

"You sure? The little man looks he can take care of himself," Fred told him, but became just a bit wary when he was met with a glare.

"We're  _both_  staying," Tadashi repeated before burying his face into the pillow as if trying to sleep some more.

Fred sighed and shrugged, knowing that he really shouldn't be challenging Tadashi. He sounded sleep deprived. "Whatever floats your boat, then." With that, he left the room and walked downstairs.

"So, did you manage to wake them up?" Cass asked when he made it to the kitchen. Fred slapped a smile on his face and nodded.

"Yep! But they didn't want to get out of bed."

"I guess they could use a little more sleep," said Cass with a small smile of her own. "Well, for now, you can help yourself to some luncheon meat. I know it isn't much, but we didn't expect a guest." She set a bowl of mushed meat on the table just as Fred took a seat.

Fred only smiled and gratefully ate the food. He hadn't had a decent meal in a while so this was good enough. "It's great, thanks, Miss Hamada."

Cass smiled at him and sat down at the table after getting a bowl for herself. "I hope you don't mind Tadashi," she said. "He's just being protective right now. When you get to know him, he's a sweetheart."

"I guess I'll take your word for it," said Fred as he ate a scoopful of meat. He'd ask more questions, but even he knew it was too early for whatever was on his mind. Only an awkward silence followed.

After they both finished up the breakfast, Cass took the bowls and placed them in the sink, beginning to wash them. That was when Tadashi and Hiro finally started hopping down the stairs.

"Dashi, why can't we go looting for gummy bears?"

"You're the one who ate the entire damn jar like a month after we got you enough to last a year."

"Over three hundred packs of gummy bears isn't enough to last a year," Hiro retorted. "There should still be some good ones, right? We're even in one of those crossroad cities."

A crossroad city had been a term they came up with for cities near the intersection of roads survivors used to travel between the still-functioning areas of the world. While still technically abandoned, loot tended to be scattered around, usually due to a recent death or some irresponsible placement of supplies. Sometimes charity groups came secretly to these places to leave supplies for people to find.

Tadashi just groaned with a playful annoyance. "I'm surprised you haven't gotten fat from all those," he muttered, ruffling his brother's hair a bit.

"I might have diabetes," Hiro said, shoving his brother's hand away. "Nii-chan, please?" Tadashi rolled his eyes but didn't say anymore. Instead, he turned to the kitchen and left Hiro to pout. "You're so mean."

Cass shook the water off her hands and smiled at the two boys that just came down, once again, arguing about looting more gummy bears. It had been so long since she heard them arguing about things as simple as this. It was almost as if they  _weren't_  in a corrupted world. She could still see a small Hiro around the age of 6, bothering Tadashi to take him down to the store and get him another gummy bear jar.

"You're a sweet freak," Tadashi replied. "Can't you go  _one_   _month_  without gummy bears?" Knowing full well that the comeback would be that he couldn't even last a  _day_ , Tadashi didn't give Hiro any time to reply. Instead he smirked and ruffled his little brother's hair. "Fine, bring your jar. We're gonna get you some gummy bears."

Fred immediately jumped out of his seat. "I'll go, too! Hunting for supplies in the middle of a zombie apocalypse never gets old!"

"You're staying here with Aunt Cass. There might be more of that 'group of buddies' you talked about out there. It's probably best not to risk you getting caught again," said Tadashi, though it was only half a truth. He wasn't sure how useful Fred actually was.

Hiro wasn't complaining. It wasn't really like he disliked their guest, it was just that he was already slowing Tadashi down, and they weren't sure if Fred was the best at keeping quiet when he needed to be.

"Is there anything that interests you?" Hiro asked, though feeling very shy, worked up the courage to sound at least a little confident. "If there's anything, we can bring some back for you. Dashi does it all the time for me. I get gummy bears all the time."

Fred looked surprised for a moment.  _No_   _one_  has ever asked him what he liked before. Usually he always found a way to link some topics back to his favorite things: comic books. "Well, since you asked, see if you can find some comics! Preferably the superhero kinds with the  _awesome_  powers!" he answered excitedly. "The ones with the fire-breathing lizard are the best!"

Hiro nodded and readjusted his backpack so that it would stop slipping off his shoulders. "I think we'll find something like that. Wherever the gummy bears are, the comic books may be as well. So until we come back, can you make sure Mochi doesn't do something stupid? We'll be back soon. And if Aunt Cass needs help, can you help her for us? I'd appreciate that."

"Whatever you say, little man, I can handle it," Fred said, heading to the sink to assist in drying the washed dishes. "Let me know if anything cool happens, alright?"

Hiro mocked a salute and he walked out the door with Tadashi following after. Once the door shut, Hiro was jumping up and down with glee, hoping to get more gummy bears by the end of the day. He couldn't  _wait_! "Dashi, are we gonna look for comic books for Fred?"

"Sure," Tadashi said, but only half-heartedly. "If we can find any. They aren't that important." Well, gummy bears weren't all that important either, but Hiro deserved to be spoiled every once in a while, or so Tadashi kept telling himself.

Today, they were to visit one of those charity spots that happened to drop off many gummy snacks. It was also near a gun store that still had a decent supply of ammo. Basically, their destination was one of the more ideal places.

It was also one of the harder-to-survive areas. The infected had been seen there more frequently and, while Tadashi didn't want to expose his brother to the one thing he feared the most, he also knew they needed the stuff, especially with an extra mouth to feed.

"Tadashi...?"

The elder Hamada needed no more words and paused in their roof-hopping to give Hiro a reassuring hand. "I'll protect you, okay? I promise." Soon, they had to drop down to walk the rest of the way. The roofs near their destination were too brittle with age and use for them.

Hiro kept himself close to Tadashi the entire way. He never wanted to be separated from him, afraid of being too close to the infected. He felt different when he was afraid. It sucked being like this and sometimes he wished he'd just stop whining and suck it up. His phobia wasn't going to go away unless he did something about it, right? "It seems they understand my obsession of gummy bears," Hiro mumbled, trying to keep his mood light, but failing miserably. He wished he could do something to keep in a positive mood but how would he do that? "Dashi, I don't like this."

"Neither do I," admitted Tadashi, "but we'll get through this." He kept his eyes ahead, one hand holding Hiro's and the other holding a gun as they walked. He would shoot every infected that he saw, if only to put his brother's mind at ease. This continued until they reached one of those reachable vents that had been unlocked, the treasures behind them. "There's one."

Suddenly a gunshot was heard and it didn't come from Tadashi's gun. Hiro flinched at the sudden loud sound and looked over to the right side of him where he saw a small hole with a bullet lodged deep within it and smoke seeping out of the opening. That's when he looked back, tightening his hold on his older brother's hand to see several men walking towards them with scowls on their faces and guns locked and loaded in their hands. At first he thought that they were only there because they were assholes trying to steal what the two brothers had found.

Tadashi, however, didn't look fazed at all. He just stared at them and held Hiro close to him, the third to fourth time he was protective over him this week and, in all honesty, Hiro really didn't mind. In times like these it was understandable. "Unbelievable," Tadashi muttered to himself. "There  _are_  more of them."

For a moment, there was a standoff between the brothers and the newcomers. The men were insanely huge, like henchmen from a comic or something, but Tadashi and Hiro were at least swift. "What do you want?" questioned the elder brother as he tightened his grip on his gun. It had been reloaded shortly after they found their treasure, so there would be no delay before death for these guys.

One of them smirked. "Retribution," he began. "We saw you dumping off our guys somewhere. We'll show you now that you shouldn't have fought back." They reached for their guns.

Hiro stared at the men, worry evident in his eyes. There were so many of them and it seemed as though the moment lasted a couple of seconds before Tadashi shot the first bullet, killing one if the men in front of them. Using the time given from their confusion, Tadashi dragged Hiro away and they started running.

Bullets chased them as the men soon recovered, but the brothers didn't stop. Well, not until they felt a searing pain in their joined hands and had to let go. Unconsciously, they moved away from each other and suddenly they could only run in opposite directions in order to keep away from their pursuers. Before long, they lost sight of each other.

Hiro held his bleeding hand as he ran, scared out of his mind from being separated from his brother, yet he could only run forward rather than find a path around. The streets seemed endless, with intersections coming by so quickly he would hit a wall if he tried to turn. Yet another searing hot pain caused him to stumble as his thigh felt like it was exploding, but he refused to fall. His disorientation, however, had forced him into an alleyway.

He ran and ran until he found that he'd hit a dead end. Three men had appeared in front of him and they were smirking. Hiro backed up until his back hit the wall and he had nowhere to go. He finally fell to the ground, exhausted and in pain and he felt something collide with his stomach, knocking the air out of him and leaving him on his side, gasping. More came along, hitting his back and legs, and they even went as far as shooting at his leg multiple times, laughing as he screamed in pain.

It wasn't until one of them started screaming and Hiro saw it: the infected biting at the man's neck and more pouring in, leaving the other two to try and fend them off whilst their friend was being eaten alive. Oh god, the thing was so  _close_. Hiro wanted to scream.

So he did. "DASHI!"


	4. Three New Caretakers

There was no way out. The infected were slowly filling the alleyway and the thugs were the only obstacle, unwittingly, between them and Hiro. Two against a horde wasn't very good odds. Soon, the infected will get to him and then...

Suddenly, shots and slices, this time from a small distance, rang out and the horde fell as if mowed down. Two silhouettes stood at the mouth of the alley, the smaller of then apparently aiming a gun at the thugs. "Remember us?" asked a feminine voice, her tone dangerous and almost trigger-happy.

Hiro was scared, his legs hurt as well as his arms, and he could feel the blood running down his skin. He was scared, the infected were everywhere and their blood flew when they were slaughtered. He crouched into the farthest corner and tried his best to cover up his wounds so they didn't get infected. Throughout the entire thing, he was thinking to himself, "Dashi isn't here." The thought only frightened him more.

Tadashi wasn't there with him. Another group had come along and the two men that lived forgot to kill their third guy and he looked like he was going to turn soon. The infected was still eating away at him. Did they forget about it?

"Dashi Dashi Dashi." Hiro was trembling and whispering the same word over and over again. He looked over to where the infected was and he inched closer to it, feeling more and more terrified along the way, and when he was close enough, he pulled out a gun and shakily pointed it at the infected. Once it was touching its head, he turned off the safety and pulled the trigger. Then he looked down at the bitten man and quickly apologized before shooting him, too.

The remaining thugs were alarmed and one pointed his gun at Hiro. Another shot and only one large man remained, a shadow of smoke could be seen rising from the smaller silhouette. "Drop your weapon," the feminine voice ordered. Both Hiro and the last thug unarmed themselves. Another shot and now the latter was on the ground, clutching his leg. "You're coming with us." The smaller silhouette approached, now Hiro saw this was female and probably the speaker, and she began to drag the wounded man away.

"What about the kid?" asked an unfamiliar masculine voice. "We can't leave him here."

The woman stopped in her task to look at Hiro, who froze and anxiously waited for her verdict. He stared at them wide-eyed and backed away again. Where was Tadashi?

A third, rather tall and slim silhouette appeared and slowly moved toward the boy, stopping a fair distance away. "Oh, he's scared," another girl's voice cooed, clearly belonging to this third newcomer. "It's okay, we won't hurt you. Come on over here." When he didn't move, she took a couple of steps closer to him and he tried to get away from her, though found he couldn't because of his wounds.

"See?! He's wounded! We gotta help!" This voice probably belonged to the largest silhouette.

The first girl didn't budge. The second one, however, only inched closer to him until she rested her hand on one if his bullet injuries. "You can't walk?"

In response, Hiro looked her in the eye and shook his head.

The first woman seemed to be genuinely pondering. After a while, she looked away. "Fine, let's take him with us, but quickly. The zombies might have heard the screaming," she said before she continued to drag the wounded man.

The second woman seemed to bounce excitedly before she reached into her purse for some bandages. "I'm just going to hinder the bleeding for a bit, okay?" she said to Hiro in so sweet a voice he couldn't be afraid of her. "We'll treat you more when we get back to our place." She wrapped the bandages over the bullet wounds and other cuts, first wiping them with some rags. Once finished, she turned and motioned for Hiro to climb onto her back.

He did so without a second thought and he had to give it to her, she was stronger than she looked. "Can you help me find my brother?" he asked as she ran. "We got separated and he was being chased by two of them."

The girl glanced back at him for a second. "We could ask GoGo. She won't be happy about it, but we can ask her. Can you describe him?"

Hiro stared at nothing for a second and thought about how he should describe his brother. "Well he's got a baseball hat all the time. And he has a gun and a sword with him at all times. He's also as tall as that other guy you were with."

"Oh, and his name?"

"Tadashi Hamada."

The tall girl repeated the name as if to commit it to memory before nodding. "Alright, I'll be sure to let GoGo and Wasabi know," she promised. "What's your name? I'm sure your brother would like to be sure you're really with us."

Hiro wasn't sure if he should give out his name at first but to hell with it, if they were gonna help find Tadashi, might as well. "Hiro. Hiro Hamada." So the other two had the names GoGo and Wasabi and this girl was? "Who're you?" he asked. "What's your name?"

"I'm called Honey Lemon," she answered. "It's not my real name, but the nicknames stuck. A friend of ours gave them to us." The atmosphere seemed to drop a bit. "We've been looking for him, actually. That big guy GoGo is dragging around is part of the group that took him away. We hope he knows something."

"All he knows is that Tadashi fed his dead dumb friends to the infected," Hiro muttered. "That's the only reason why he and his gang chased us in the first place. Not our fault they were gun-happy assholes."

Honey Lemon had to chuckle at that. She'd never heard anyone say "gun-happy" before. "Perhaps, but it doesn't hurt to... interrogate," she said. No more words were spoken until they reached an abandoned police station. "We're here." While GoGo and Wasabi stayed outside, Honey brought Hiro inside and to the room designated as an infirmary. Setting the boy down on a bed, the tall blonde sterilized some tweezers. "I'm going to remove the bullets from your wounds now. We ran out of painkillers, I'm sorry. I'll try not to hurt you too much." She proceeded to undo some of the bandages.

Hiro tensed up and stiffened his leg, trying to make it so that the pain wouldn't be as bad. He never had to deal with this before, so knowing about the pain to come was beginning to scare him once again.

Honey tried to get him to relax, but knowing enough that removing bullets from flesh, especially without painkillers, is excruciatingly painful, he was getting freaked out again. So she waited a little for him to relax before she slowly took out the first bullet. Hearing him scream was frightening and she almost flinched but she couldn't let herself make any sudden movements, otherwise it'd hurt him. "I'm sorry," she said quickly before letting the bloody bullet drop in a nearby Petri dish. "Alright, three more to go."

Reluctantly, Hiro nodded to let her know she could continue. Yes, the removals hurt like hell, but he knew bullets weren't meant to stay in someone's body.

She picked up a rag and handed it to him. "Bite this. It might not help with the pain, but at least you won't accidentally cut your lip or tongue," she told him.

Hiro bit down on the rag like he was told to and when he felt the tweezers inside another wound, he screamed into the cloth. Honey was glad that his cries were muffled, mainly because she wouldn't be as distracted by them, but it was upsetting to her that she just met a kid and she was already hurting him. Even if it didn't help his pain, she apologized again and dropped the bullet with the first one. Not wasting any time, she went on to the third wound and took it out, hoping that it was quicker so that the pain would come and go.

Hiro's uninjured hand twitched, almost begging to shove her away but he couldn't do that no matter how much he wanted to. This was the last one, he could make it through this if he was able to do it three times. Honey made sure to wrap up the wounds with a clean bandage and she went to his hand. Taking a deep breath, she started the removal and, for some reason, this hurt more than it did when she was working on his leg. Hiro would have clenched his fists so that it would hurt less (it never helped but it was a habit), but he was too scared that it would actually hurt more since she was actually in the middle of taking it out now.

After a bit, it was finally over and his hand was wrapped up as well. Honey praised him, calling him brave. "I think you need a treat. Hope you like gummy bears because that's really all I have right now."

Hiro hardly had the strength to smile. "Gummy bears sound really good right now," he managed to say while she cleaned the wounds on his back. He was so tired right now...

Once Honey Lemon was sure that the wounds were clean, she patched those up as well and pulled out a pack of the snacks she claimed to have. "Oh, silly me, you must be tired right now. I'll let you get some rest. I'll speak with GoGo about your brother." With that she stood up and left, leaving Hiro to stare at the gummy bears she left on the bed.

When he found he couldn't even move his hand to grab them, he let out a sigh of frustration and shut his eyes. "Damn it," he muttered.

In the jail area of the station, Honey found GoGo and Wasabi questioning the thug. "Any luck finding out where Fred is?" she asked.

The dark-skinned male shook his head. "Won't say a thing. He's been like that since we got here."

"I'm not joking around, okay? Where is our friend?" The man still refused to answer, so GoGo kicked him to the ground face-first and straightened out his arm. One arm was right above his elbow and the other arm was on his wrist. "I'll ask one more time before I break your arm. Where is he?!" When he remained silent, she snapped his arm back and broke it without hesitation, listening as the man screamed in pure agony.

Honey Lemon was worried about Hiro being able to hear this. He might be afraid of them for this, and since it's been so long since she's seen a kid, she didn't want to scare him away. "GoGo, give it up," she said quietly after the man stopped screaming. "He isn't going to talk."

"Oh, he'll talk. They always talk," GoGo muttered as she dropped the arm. "You've got guts, I'll give you that." She stalked over to the nearby counter and examined the tools. A gun, a scalpel, a sword, many possibilities. "This should work." She picked up the scalpel. Seeing it, the man looked pretty freaked out, but swallowed down his screams and forced a glare upon GoGo.

Honey Lemon really wished she had iced tea right now. It usually relaxed her. "GoGo, this isn't worth the trouble." Even after hearing that, the shorter woman still went up to him and cut into his broken arm, which should have caused him more pain than it would have if unsnapped.

The man started screaming and soon he gave in, unable to deal with it anymore. "I DON'T KNOW!"

She stopped there. "What?"

"I don't know where the guy is! We only attacked the kid and that older guy because he let the crawlers eat them!"

Frustrated, GoGo lifted her gun and shot the man in the head, kicking his dead body. "Damn it!"

No one spoke for a while. The newly dead man had revealed nothing, but implied that his group lost some of their members and Fred, and someone else was responsible. Honey was the first to break the silence. "Do you think Freddie was...?"

GoGo took a seat on the body as if it had been a chair the entire time. "Who knows? We're just gonna have to keep looking," she said with an exasperated sigh.

"This guy was talking about the kid and some older guy, right? Maybe they know what happened?" Wasabi offered in hopes that it may be a clue.

It was all Honey needed. "Oh, right, I almost forgot! We need to help Hiro find his brother!" No questions were asked, for the other two figured Honey had been referring to the boy. Gogo and Wasabi did give her a questioning look as if she forgot their original task. "That might be the older guy we need to find."

"And what if he isn't?" GoGo asked. "What then? And isn't there something else we should know about this guy?"

"He might be nice! If Hiro likes him, he should be," Wasabi reasoned. "And this kid has proven to be more useful to us than the amount of guys we caught so far."

GoGo had to admit, that was true. But who was to say the guy would even believe them? "What if he doesn't know Fred? What if he killed him?"

Honey Lemon was in her thoughts as the other two discussed. She hadn't even met the guy yet and she still knew that he wouldn't have been able to kill him. Fred was too strange, for starters. Besides, with someone like Hiro around, surely he wouldn't let his brother kill someone defenseless, at least that's what she believed.

"We won't know until we find him. Let's just give this a try." With that, Wasabi faced Honey, who became aware of his attention. "Did Hiro tell you what his brother looked like? What name he responds to?" Behind him, GoGo sighed once more. The stress of the situation may be getting to her.

"I think Hiro said his name was Tadashi. He always wears a baseball cap, has a gun and sword, and is probably as tall as you," was Honey's reply. That was all the description they got, but they could work with that, probably. Something told them that they were actually very close to finding Fred, or at least finding out what happened to him.

* * *

Tadashi was looting the dead men now, taking their guns and ammo just in case. He reloaded every gun he took and stuffed them in his backpack. Just in case, he equipped another gun and moved on. For a while, all he saw were the infected, with no sign of Hiro nor the men who chased him.

The frustration was slowly getting to him and he needed to take it out on something. Perhaps these corpses? Instead of wasting ammo on something so simple, he put away his gun and took out his blade to kill every infected he came across. He needed to find Hiro and he needed to find him now. The sun was setting (he hadn't realized they'd been out the entire day) and he became more hurried. Hiro had nightmares at this time whenever he drifted off to sleep.

"Otouto, where are you?" Tadashi asked worriedly, looking around to make sure he didn't accidentally miss him. Soon he noticed that the infected were suddenly nowhere to be found. He shook his head to make sure he really wasn't hallucinating and heard them groaning in the distance. So they were preoccupied. That was good... for him. He turned at a corner to see them crowding around someone—wait, no—two people: one male, one female.

The male didn't look all that threatening. In any case, he almost looked concerned. "Blades are broken!"

"I can see that!" the female with him snapped back. A gunshot rang and only one of the infected dropped dead out of all the ones that had surrounded them.

Believing he'd regret this later, Tadashi killed the infected for them and watched as the walking corpses dropped to the ground, revealing a short female with purple streaks in her hair and a large dark-skinned male with dreads. The girl looked like she was studying Tadashi, and usually that made him uncomfortable, but for now, he was trying to find his brother. Once knowing that they were safe, he tossed some of his looted ammo at them and turned around, beginning to walk away.

"Wait." He stopped and turned his head a bit towards her. "Tadashi Hamada?"

Now he did a 180-degree turn and looked at straight her, confusion and suspicion evident in his eyes. "How do you know who I am?" he asked, raising a brow at her.

"We have your brother."


	5. Separated and Longing

There was currently a blade's tip right at her throat.

"Where are you keeping him?" demanded an enraged Tadashi, apparently feeling no qualms about killing the shorter woman in front of him. She only smirked at him as if he had passed some kind of test.

"Did you really have to say it like that, GoGo?" asked the dark-skinned man. "You make it sound like we kidnapped the kid." Putting a couple of hands up in surrender, the man made a requesting gesture for Tadashi to sheathe his sword. "Look, Hiro's fine. We've got someone taking care of him right now."

Tadashi lowered the blade and he looked at the man, his glare never softening. "Where  _is_  he?"

The man swallowed a lump in his throat and was about to reply but GoGo cut him off. "Like my friend just said, someone's taking care of him. That's all you need to know. First, we have questions to ask." Tadashi finally sheathed his weapon and gave her a pointed look. She didn't seem to notice. "There we go. It won't take long."

"Get on with it," Tadashi growled. "I'm not going to wait all day for you." GoGo glared intimidatingly, but he didn't back down. So she smiled and she looked like she was thinking, 'I like this guy.' Tadashi was beginning to get impatient. He had a little brother to find and if she wasn't going to ask her questions, he was going to leave.

"We're looking for someone. It seems the people who have been chasing poor little Hamada were associated with those which I heard you fed to the walking corpses." Tadashi raised a brow at that. So the people who she encountered began bitching about how he killed their buddies? "Well, they had a prisoner. And he's our friend. Since you killed his captors, we had a hunch you've either seen him or saved him. Or you probably killed him by mistake."

"Elaborate on his character," Tadashi said. "What's this friend like?"

They seemed aware that Tadashi might know who they were looking for. As if excited, the man with dreads began to speak. "Well, he's easily excitable and has an obsession with comics and Kaijus."

"He can be annoying, but he's got his serious moments also."

"Always wears a beanie."

"Talks like an idiot."

Tadashi was getting a headache from their alternating speaking. "Alright, alright, stop! You know what? I think I know who you're talking about," he said, calming down a bit. "Is his name Fred?"

The man nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Fred! Is he okay?!"

Tadashi rubbed his forehead and sighed irritably. It seemed GoGo was more tolerable than this guy and that was saying something. "A-alright, alright, stop yelling. Yes, he's fine. He's probably ranting to my aunt about how cool fire is and all. I'm just praying that he doesn't burn his arm off."

GoGo smirked and looked back at the male with her. "He's tolerable," she said.

Tadashi eyed them a bit suspiciously now. "So, now that you know Fred's back at my base, what do you plan to do?" he asked. He felt like they were going to propose some kind of trade. He would need to negotiate with them in order to get Hiro back safe and sound.

GoGo shrugged and turned away from him. "Well we got the information we wanted. But that doesn't mean we're going to trust you enough to take you to him."

The man looked at her, confused for a moment. He didn't even look like he was in on what she was saying right now. "We're not?" he asked. "Wait, what? GoGo, we promised Hiro—"

"We said we'd find his brother. How about this, you meet up with us here tomorrow in the morning. We'll have your brother and you bring Fred. We'll make a trade. For now, Hiro stays with us. You can wait another day, right?" With that, she hurried away, pulling the other, protesting, male along with her and Tadashi was left alone, not even paying attention to where they were going. The words had rendered him speechless.

* * *

As they made their way back to the base, GoGo was for once having trouble blocking out Wasabi's rambling.

"We weren't supposed to make him think we're holding his brother hostage! Did you  _see_  how insane he looked?" The rambling had been going on for a while.

GoGo assumed that he was just worried for Fred's well-being, but she was confident that Tadashi wouldn't try anything if he was really worried for Hiro. "Stop whining and woman up. What's done is done and at least we've finally found out Fred's alive and where he is," the woman said when her companion paused.

"You didn't have to suggest a damned hostage trade!"

"Well, I don't think he'll let us come with him to get Fred and neither are we risking taking him to our base for the kid. The safest way is for us to take Hiro and meet with his brother and Fred, we trade, and we part ways. That's it." The finality of her sentence and her glare ended the conversation and they continued on wordlessly.

Once they made it home, they saw Honey Lemon cooking something for dinner and usually that'd be great, but it was an unusual dinner this time. It looked  _edible_  for once. It  _actually_   _looked_ _edible_. Sure, it usually did end up so despite how horrible the food had appeared but this... this was actually something new.

"Hey, guys!" she greeted happily. "How was your search? Did you find him? Are you hungry?" Wasabi only sighed and gave GoGo a look. "Did you two get into a fight?" When the male shook his head, Honey Lemon tilted hers in confusion. Then why was he so angry? "What's the matter with you two?"

"Okay, we found Hiro's brother, he has Fred back at his base, and we're meeting up with him tomorrow," Wasabi began his explanation. "That's the good news. The bad news? He probably thinks we're holding his brother hostage. Might not have happened if  _someone_  worded her sentences differently!"

"We went over this already!" GoGo snapped. "We can't trust that guy until he proves that he's left Fred unharmed!"

This time Wasabi was fuming. Tadashi wouldn't have harmed Fred if they had just explained things differently! Now that he's become hostile, there's no  _telling_  what he'd do to Fred! He could have been completely willing for all they knew! "That guy seemed trustworthy! Even if he looked irked all the time, he seemed like a reasonable man! And you just  _had_  to make us seem like the bad guys! You've seen how he acted when you brought up his brother!"

" _Exactly_! He was ready to cut us down. Do you really want to risk bringing him here so he can slaughter us?"

"Quiet, you two!" Honey Lemon exclaimed, interrupting their argument. She was about to put in her two cents, but then they all heard someone whimpering in a nearby room. "I'll go check on Hiro. Please make sure the food doesn't burn." With that, she left them alone.

When she arrived in the room that Hiro was sleeping in, she heard something that almost broke her heart. He was calling for help and it wasn't just from anyone. He was calling for Tadashi. Honey Lemon never liked nightmares, they always freaked her out, but seeing Hiro like this right now, it almost made her feel horrible because hers probably weren't as bad as his. Never in her life did she ever call for help when she was having a bad dream.

"Nii-chan!" Hiro shot up, throwing the blanket off of him and he looked around wildly, almost as if he were trying to find someone. "T-Tadashi?" When his eyes met Honey Lemon's, he realized that he was nowhere near his older brother and he looked just about ready to cry. Then he looked away and wiped his eyes, seemingly forcing out a laugh. "I don't think the gummy bears helped but they were delicious."

Honey Lemon wasn't sure what gummy bears really had to do with anything but she did assume that it was like a comfort/favorite snack. "Hiro, are you alright?" she asked worriedly. "Were you having a nightmare?"

"What? No, I just... had something in my eye for a second and I half-expected Tadashi to be here and tell me that it was my fault for not cleaning my face properly..." What kind of a lie was that? "I'm fine, really."

Instinctively, Honey sat on the bed with Hiro and pulled him into a hug. "Oh, Hiro..." What could she tell him? That GoGo and Wasabi had found his brother, but had somehow set up a hostage trade? "You'll see Tadashi soon. I promise you."

Hiro looked up and smiled only slightly. Honey Lemon being there wasn't as comforting as Tadashi's presence because he hadn't known her for very long but she did help a little. So he had to appreciate that, right? "Thanks," he said quietly, not really having any idea of what to say next.

After some time, Honey let go, but she didn't plan to leave just yet. "Seems you and your brother are very close. Are only the two of you surviving together? Or are there others?" It seemed like a decent start to a conversation and it may help Hiro be a little more comfortable, she figured.

Hiro fiddled with his thumbs as he thought about what to say next. "We have an aunt," he said. "She's really nice and she takes care of us like we're her own. She also keeps us smiling when times are bad—or at least she tries to. We also got a cat named Mochi. It's either because he's fat and reminds us of one or because our aunt really likes mochis."

Honey giggled a bit. "You're lucky. Despite the situation, you still have a normal family," she commented, thinking fondly of her own family. She hadn't heard from them in years... "Where did you come from? And do you know where you're going?"

"I guess I'm pretty lucky," Hiro mumbled. When the questions sank in, he racked his brain to think if an answer. Where  _did_  he come from? "I think I came from my house, I mean that was the last place I was before this all happened." The answer sounded uncertain and Hiro cursed himself for that. Deciding not to dwell on it, he moved on. "And we're just moving around. We don't have a real destination, really. We're just hoping to survive either until the end or until we die naturally."

"I think that's everyone's primary goal," said Honey after giggling again at Hiro's first answer. "Well, since you don't have a primary destination, what would be your dream place?" It seems their guest was opening up a bit and forgetting his nightmare, which is good. "Do you like quiet and peaceful places? Or are bustling cities more of your type of environment?"

"I used to like loud places, I suppose." Hiro rested his thumbs and smiled a bit. "And then this whole mess started and now I want nothing but peace and quiet. Being shot at here and there, it kinda sucks and it ruins the whole 'I-would-like-some-fun' feeling. I'm pretty sure by the end, I'll be wishing that it was loud but for now, I could do with less of the dead groaning."

Before they could continue, another set of footsteps walked in and Wasabi was at the door, looking exhausted. Honey guessed that he had just finished arguing with GoGo. "Well, looks like you two are having fun," he said as he took for himself a nearby stool and faced Hiro. "How're you feeling, kid?"

Hiro just shrugged and smiled slightly, beginning to get used to their company. Although he still missed Tadashi, a lot. "Peachy. It feels like someone tried to play basketball inside my leg." He knew that he had a strange way of putting things together so he laughed, noting that it sounded forced. When he saw the strange looks he received he said, "I read strange things, okay?"

"I think we've all seen something strange at some point," said Wasabi with a shrug. "Did Honey tell you already?"

"I haven't, actually."

"I guess I'll break the news. It's good news, don't worry." The somewhat large man tried to smile, but it was an uneasy one. "GoGo and I have found your brother. You should be able to meet him tomorrow."

Honey Lemon had never seen Hiro smile become any wider. He looked like he was ready to swim in the Olympics, that how happy he seemed right now. They must have been really close. Had he not said that they were brothers, she would have believed that they were a couple.

"Is he okay? No scratches or anything? He's not hurt, right?"

Wasabi shrugged once again and tried to recall if he saw any blood on the older Hamada. "I'm not sure. His hand was all bloody but that's normal around these places."

Remembering the bullet that was once in his own hand, Hiro winced when he realized it must have gone right through Tadashi's. How much pain had his brother gone through? How much blood had he lost? Why didn't he go home to rest? Suddenly, Hiro recalled a small detail from the man's news. "Wait a second, you said I can see Tadashi tomorrow? Why not right now?" he asked, confused. If they found Tadashi, why didn't they bring him here?

"I-I have no idea how to answer that but I'm gonna say it wasn't part of what I had in mind," Wasabi said quickly and then laughed nervously. "Sorry, I'm not allowed to go into detail. Anyway, how are you in general, besides your leg? Nothing else hurting?"

Hiro didn't like the sudden change of topic but he let it slide since Wasabi didn't look the type to be able to take a lot of pressure. "In all honesty, I feel like I went twelve hundred rounds with a brick wall and then got shot four times."

"Well, those thugs might as well have been brick walls, at least in terms of strength." They did fall quite easily to bullets and infected. "We'd like to say you'll be alright, but one can never really tell when it comes to bullets and bruises. At least nothing too vital was hit, as far as we know." A nurse or a doctor would be really useful right now.

Honey stood up now, her expression not as soft as it had been a few moments ago. "Wasabi, can I talk to you in private for a moment?" Her friend seemed to know what was on her mind and soon made his way outside. "We'll be right back, Hiro."

Hiro nodded and watched silently as they left the room. He missed Tadashi. Sometimes he told himself he was being too dependent on his older brother. He was 14 now, the age Tadashi was when he started killing. Why couldn't he do the same? Was it his phobia? Did he need help?

In a world like this, definitely. He had to learn, to begin to take care of himself, to take some weight off of Tadashi's shoulders and help him carry his load. It wasn't fair that he spent seven years being a kid.

While Hiro was buried in his own thoughts, Wasabi was looking at Honey Lemon curiously. "What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

Honey crossed her arms. "What exactly happened when you found Hiro's brother?" she asked, wanting to understand the situation better. "I can hardly remember your argument with GoGo. So, mind filling me in on what's going on?"

Wasabi sighed and glared at nothing. "She made the whole situation seem like a hostage trade. Now, not only does the guy think we're hostile, he might hurt Fred, too. I'm worried that if he sees the scratches on Hiro, he may shoot someone. We didn't exactly explain what happened, you know."

The blonde made a note to ask GoGo for her point of view later. "Maybe Hiro should have... No, it's not good for him to walk with those wounds," she said mostly to herself. "Oh, so you found out Fred is with him? Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he should be. He didn't seem like the type to hurt people without reason and Fred has nothing in his personality to seem threatening." Wasabi then looked at Honey Lemon curiously. "And what do you mean? Hiro should have what?"

"No, it's nothing," Honey tried to wave him off. "I think dinner should be ready now. Or overcooked. I'll go check." With that, she scurried away in hopes of finding their female companion.

The woman in question had long turned off the stove that their food had been cooking on. "Took you long enough. How's the little one?"

Honey Lemon only smiled a little at her in answer and then said, "Well he's in serious pain but he'll be fine, I hope." Then she looked back to find Wasabi but only saw that no one was there. Assuming that he was conversing with Hiro, she turned her attention back to GoGo. "So what happened out there today? Wasabi's seriously upset about it, you know."

The shorter woman leaned against the wall and glared at the ground. "Well, you probably got that we found the kid's brother and that Fred is alive and well," she began, "but you should have seen how hostile he was once I mentioned we had Hiro. Pointed a damned sword at me in a second." She then looked at her friend in the eyes. "I'm not sure if his head is screwed on right."

Honey Lemon shrugged. "Maybe he's just really protective over Hiro," she supplied. "You know, this is the only time you've actually met him. We have to think both ways, too, you know? And how, exactly, did you mention Hiro?" She was hoping that Wasabi probably heard wrong, that GoGo  _didn't_  make it sound like what he'd said.

"I told him that we had his brother, more or less," was the nonchalant answer. "Probably doesn't matter how I say it. I've seen the overprotective types before, and they're usually borderline crazy."

"You know you could have just told him that we saved his brother and that he was looking for him..." Honey Lemon mumbled. "Maybe he would have kept his cool then, you know?" GoGo only shook her head and Honey knew that she wanted the topic to go away. Her friend wasn't one to get worked up with what happened in the past. If someone was done, it was done and she didn't want anything else to do with it.

"The important thing is that we're finally getting Fred back." Pushing away from the wall, GoGo walked away without so much as a farewell.

* * *

Tadashi passed the door with an anxiety that would surely haunt him tonight. He didn't even notice that his hand was hurting like a bi... a beach until he tried to use it to pull off his backpack. The wound was small but he was sure that he could have gotten it infected. Not like the dead infected but like small infection where he could get sick but would recover later on.

The smell of some unidentified cooking told Tadashi that Aunt Cass had already made dinner. What would she think when she finds out Hiro was in the hands of another group and the only way to get him back was to hand Fred over? Sure, the two people Tadashi encountered had claimed to be the strange man's friends, but their actions, particularly the woman's, were questionable.

"Tadashi? Hiro? You home?" he heard Aunt Cass call from the kitchen. Tadashi felt a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach and he started to breathe slowly, trying to calm himself down. Freaking out in front of Aunt Cass wasn't going to help, he knew that, so he was going to have to try and be a little relaxed at the very least before telling her the news. Hopefully she wouldn't start stress eating.

When there was no answer, Aunt Cass called out again. "Boys?" She walked out of the kitchen and was quite a bit surprised when she only saw Tadashi there. "Did Hiro go up to your room already? I didn't hear him walk." She was ready to look for him, but Tadashi stopped her.

"Hiro... isn't here." Saying it invoked the rage Tadashi had possessed for years. Some call it insanity and others called it overprotectiveness. Neither name mattered, really.

Aunt Cass looked a little scared for a second since that could have gone two ways until she took a minute to examine Tadashi's expression. He looked worried and angry at the same time which could have meant something else. "What happened? And why is your hand bleeding?" Tadashi didn't answer either question because several things happened and if he told her that they were shot at, she would definitely start freaking out for sure. "Tadashi?"

He shook his head and forced a smile. "Where's Fred? I need to talk to him," he said, though it might be more than just a talk. Well, maybe not much more. Tadashi may be mad, but he knew he shouldn't blame their guest for something his friends, if their claim was true, had done.

Aunt Cass pointed to the spare room across the one he'd shared with Hiro and Tadashi started walking up the stairs. When he reached the door and pushed it open, he saw that Fred was drawing various pictures of reptiles and papers were scattered everywhere. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that Fred was a rich kid with a butler to clean his messes.

Looking up, Fred greeted Tadashi with a wave. "Hey, you made it back! Find anything cool?" Then he noticed the bloodied hand. "That a hole in your hand? And you're just walking around like it's normal? That's pretty badass!"

Tadashi chuckled at that and shook his head. "Having a hole in your hand hurts like hell and I'm only walking around with it because I forgot to patch it up," he said. "Now, I have to ask about your friends." When Fred turned his full attention to him, Tadashi sighed. Was he really beginning to warm up to him? Whatever. "You said before that they're not gonna hurt anyone, right? Like they won't hurt a kid?"

Fred made some noise that suggested he was brushing something off. "Nah, they wouldn't hurt kids. Wouldn't even dream of it, especially Honey Lemon. She loves children."

Tadashi visibly sighed with relief and then began to pick up the papers, thinking that Hiro used to do the exact same thing. "That's good to hear, I guess..." If Honey Lemon loved kids, she would definitely be there for Hiro and that thought helped him calm down just a little. "So... do you miss your friends? Do you want to go back to them?"

"Well, yeah of course. I did say we're like our own family," Fred answered. "Why did you want to know? Even I know these are kinda personal for normal talk."

"I may have met a couple of them," Tadashi admitted, though also making it clear that he was in doubt. "Are you familiar with a sorta short girl our age who has a purple streak in her hair and a large guy with dark skin and dreads?"

Fred nodded excitedly and jumped up from his chair. "You found them?! Oh, this is amazing! Are they here right now?" Tadashi shook his head and Fred deflated a little. "Oh, so they aren't coming?"

"Well, how do I say this?" How does one word this? "They seem to plan to use my brother as a hostage." Seeing the other male's confusion, Tadashi figured he needed to start from the beginning. "My brother and I ran into the group that originally captured you, we got separated, and now he's somehow with your friends and they won't let him go unless I bring you back to them tomorrow." Disappointment turned into disbelief and Fred looked as if he wasn't sure what to say about that.

After some time, Fred finally managed to shake his head a bit. "This doesn't sound like something they'd do. We don't take hostages," he said. "Well, we'll see them tomorrow, you said? Maybe we'll clear things out then. This doesn't sound right at all."

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe they do, you're just never around to see these hostages?" Tadashi wanted to ask but he ended up saying, "We'll see. In the meantime, pack up your stuff because I'm taking you back to your friends tomorrow." That having been said, he walked out of the room, the anxiety never leaving.

Fred looked all over the floor and sighed, seeing the paper mess he created. Where was he going to put all of that?

To make matters worse, Aunt Cass had been waiting outside and looking as if she had knew something. "Tadashi, you have some explaining to do," she told him. "What happened to Hiro? Did someone take him?"

Tadashi didn't answer right away. The last thing he needed was to be pressured by his aunt right now. "Hiro's alright, okay? He's with Fred's group right now. That's all I know so far but Fred just said that they wouldn't hurt him. He'll be fine, he'll be home tomorrow."

This didn't ease her nerves. "Why is he with them? Tell me everything." She was a bit more demanding now. From what her nephew told her, Hiro hadn't been kidnapped, but something had happened to separate him from his brother.

Tadashi  _really_  didn't want to talk about it. Right now he just wanted to sleep the night away so that morning could come quickly and he would get to see Hiro alive and well. He didn't want to spend what felt like an eternity, even if it was just one night, worrying about something that might not even be a big deal. So he kept silent.

Knowing that there was nothing else she could say, Cass gave up and sighed. "If you won't tell me, I guess I can't force you," she said. "I'm as worried as you are. We both know how he is when you're not there for him, especially at night." How would Fred's group deal with the nightmares? she wondered.

Tadashi nodded silently and, without a word, walked to his room. Once inside, he shut the door. Tonight was going to be Hell but he hoped that maybe he'd be able to get through it and tomorrow he'd see Hiro. "Give it a rest, Bozo, he's 14," Tadashi muttered to himself as he sat down on the bed he rarely ever used. "He can take care of himself for one night."

* * *

The others had long since gone to sleep, but Hiro didn't want to risk the nightmares. He had already tried once, but every time he would find himself under that damned car, faced with that corpse that Tadashi had long since split the skull of. Why wouldn't it leave him alone?

He tried to give himself pep talk at one point telling himself, "You're 14. You can handle yourself for one night. Just focus on the gummy bears or whatever your happy thing is." At first it was funny that he had no idea what made him happy other than gummy bears, then it just became so ridiculous to the point it was just plain embarrassing. So he shut up.

A loud groaning suddenly caused Hiro to freeze. Was one of them nearby...? "D-Dashi..." he whispered, but there was no one to answer him. At the doorway, a shadow slowly emerged and he found himself staring in horror. Should he call out for help? What if no one comes? Maybe the thing would just go away. "Help, Dashi...!" He tried to be quiet so the thing wouldn't hear him, but he instinctively wanted to be heard.

Hiro soon saw something walking slowly into the room and the horrible smell of rotten flesh came from nowhere. There, coming towards him, was an infected. Hiro bit his lip to keep himself from screaming but he knew he had to do something. So he sat up, despite the pain in his torso, grabbed his pillow, and when the corpse was close enough, shoved the pillow in its face, pushing it back a little. The force, however, wasn't enough to make it fall down, just back up a couple of inches.

He looked around and found that there were no weapons (typical), so despite his leg's painful protests, he threw himself onto the other side of the bed and he quickly took one side of the blanket and raised it so that the other was still lying on the bed and it looked like someone messed up gravity and a hammock was on its side. The infected crawled right on it and right into the blanket, giving Hiro a chance to wrap it up and tie the ends. Now it just looked like someone threw it in a sack.

Unable to stand up any longer, he fell on the ground, his leg hurting more than ever, and either these guys were light sleepers, or he was seriously heavy because not a minute later, everyone he met earlier today was up and they looked alarmed.

Hiro shakily pointed towards the wrapped up infected. "It... i-it..." He couldn't speak properly, but he probably didn't have to. Within moments, Wasabi took a chair and smashed the corpse's head, the wiggling blanket-sack now still.

"How did it get in here?" demanded GoGo, though no one could answer. Wordlessly, she marched off to look for any openings in the police station, muttering something about needing to move first.

Panic settled in Hiro as he felt arms wrap around him, but he calmed when he realized they belonged to Honey Lemon. "Are you okay, Hiro? It didn't hurt you, did it?" she asked, checking for new wounds. "We shouldn't have left you alone." Hiro wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry upon hearing that. His aunt had said the same thing years ago.

And there it was again, that thought. The same horrid memory that had him afraid of these things in the first place. The fact that he didn't scream at the fact that it was so close almost amazed him. The fact that he actually worked up the courage to trap it in a blanket (one that he would most likely never ever use again) made him feel almost proud of himself. He faced his fear, and usually that would be a good thing but he felt even more terrified than before.

"I'm fine," he said, shakily, trying to laugh it off. "I feel pretty badass right about now. I just wrapped it in a blanket!"

Even though he was trying to joke about it, Honey Lemon could hear in his voice that he was freaked out, almost as if he had some kind of fear of these things. Sure, everyone was scared of them, but Hiro actually had a real phobia of them. Having to see this, it hurt. Hiro was still kind of a kid, and this all started seven years ago, which only meant that he spent most of his childhood in a land of the living dead. That has got to be harsh...

Wasabi approached the two after moving the blanket-sack aside, taking a seat by them. "Yes, you did, but I killed it with a chair," he said, smirking when Hiro's faked proud expression turned into a mocked pout.

"Oh hush, you, it's not like you had an injured leg," Hiro countered. "And you're stronger, of course you'd be able to kill it." He crossed his arms and looked away, pretending to be offended.

Honey couldn't take her mind off the possibility that their guest had a serious phobia. "You were very brave, Hiro," she said, casting Wasabi a playful glare. "And you didn't even scream! I'm not sure what I would have done if I was your age and left alone with that."

"See? Honey Lemon's nice than you." Hiro stuck his tongue out at Wasabi childishly, earning a laugh from the older male. "Hey, stop laughing." When Wasabi didn't stop laughing, Hiro forced an unamused look upon himself, but the man only started laughing harder until GoGo came back and shut him up.

"We'll need to block every window and door for the night and then we'll move tomorrow," she announced, and Wasabi's laughter died down.

"Tomorrow? We haven't even decided where to go next!" Wasabi exclaimed. "We need a plan, you know."

"Well, sometimes things happen and we don't have time to make a plan!" GoGo harshly answered. "Just keep to the general goal, how we get there doesn't matter. Get Fred back, return Hiro to his brother, then travel and maybe survive the rest of this hell."

Hiro turned towards her at the mention of the familiar name. "You know Fred?" he asked all too quickly. "Like, guy who wears a beanie and likes comics?" He was starting to get excited. It would be such a coincidence if these people happened to be the very friends looking for Fred!

"Yeah, we know Fred. He's the friend we've been searching for. You see, he was kidnapped a long time ago and nothing's been the same without him. That kinda screams 'Look for Fred!' you know?" Wasabi replied sadly. "We shouldn't have left him alone."

That got Hiro thinking, his mind trailing back to the gang that had attacked him. Just how long had Fred been held prisoner? And if he was a prisoner, why would his captors let him wander around if they knew that they could easily lose him?

Perhaps a bigger question on Hiro's mind was why no one asked how he knew Fred. They sounded as if they already knew. Then again, they did meet Tadashi. Maybe he told them. "Well, you won't have to worry now. He's back with my aunt and brother. Maybe I can get Tadashi to let you see him." No, Honey Lemon and Wasabi didn't look worried at all, actually. It was GoGo who looked worried, as if she didn't trust Tadashi or Aunt Cass, which confused Hiro. If she met Tadashi, she would have seen that he was a nice guy, right?

"You know, we probably should ask. How is Fred? I mean, how did you find him?" asked Honey upon finding there was an awkward silence. "We guess you and your brother got attacked by the guys that took him, but do tell us everything."

Hiro thought for a moment. "I think we met him the other day after Aunt Cass, Tadashi, and I had dinner. I went upstairs to sleep, but the window was open and I figured I might as well close it." He remembered the loud  _bang!_  that caused him to jump back so that the bullet only grazed his cheek. "Before I knew it, someone shot at me and I ran downstairs. My brother ran up, I heard some gunshots, and then someone was shouting: "Don't shoot! I can turn into a Kaiju!'" There was laughter that he couldn't help but join, only continuing when he managed to regain his breath. "At first I thought the guy was crazy because last time I checked, you can't randomly turn into a Kaiju." More chuckles. "So I went upstairs and I found five dead bodies and one guy who looked like he was somehow dragged along. I guess Tadashi could tell, so he let him live. Plus you can't really kill someone who has an active imagination."

"Sounds like Fred alright," Wasabi commented. "Only he could somehow confuse a guy into letting him live."

"Or maybe there were no more bullets."

"This explains so much."

"Tadashi had one bullet left," Hiro confirmed. "He was about to shoot him, because Dashi doesn't like leaving survivors. Last time he did, we all almost died. But because Fred seemed too non-threatening, I kept him from shooting." Deciding that was the best place to end it since he had nothing else to say, he slapped a smile on his face and then faced everyone else. "You guys should tell stories, too. It's not fair that I'm the only one."

They looked amongst one another. "Maybe we can talk about how Wasabi got his name?" Honey suggested, prompting indignant and amused expressions from Wasabi and GoGo, respectively.

"Oh c'mon! I spill wasabi on my shirt one time and you never let me live it down!"

"We call it the Wasabi Curse."

"One time!"

The entire time, Honey Lemon was trying not to burst into an all-out laughter at her friend's misery. "Fine, we won't tell that story, though now Hiro has the summary," she said, earning an annoyed huff.

Hiro chuckled at that. The Wasabi Curse. That's definitely scary. "So does this mean that I can use that whenever you guys bring up something that's embarrassing to any of us?" While Honey Lemon smiled and nodded and Wasabi shook his head with an unamused face, GoGo didn't respond.

"Not at all," Wasabi said. "It's bad enough that I got three people on my back for it, I don't want another person."

"Aww, who said it was just going to be one person?" Hiro asked teasingly. "I may or may not just tell Tadashi and Aunt Cass about it, too."

"You know, I thought you were a nice kid, but now I'm having second thoughts."

"What can I say? I'm a pretty good actor."

"Alright, settle down. We still need a story. Where should we start?" Honey put a hand on each boy's shoulder as if that would help dispel the playful hostiliy. "Maybe at the beginning of this whole thing?"

The memories suddenly came rushing back at Hiro and his happy mood faded. He remembered waking up that night only to hear two gunshots that instantly woke him up. He remembered packing up and crying to Tadashi, telling him to wake up their parents so that they could come with them.

The corpse. Oh god, the corpse. Hiro could still see every detail to this day and it haunted him. It cared him half to death and soon he was trying to keep the mood light. He didn't want them to stop smiling so, hesitantly, he agreed to it. "Y-yeah. So who gets to go first?"

Well, they stopped smiling anyway when they noticed Hiro's stutter. Only Honey had an idea what was happening. She felt bad for even suggesting the topic now. "Hiro, if you don't want to hear it, we can think of something else," she offered. "We don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

"No, it's okay, really," Hiro said, forcing a smile, noting that it had slipped away. "If there's anything embarrassing, I can use it against you guys." Now everyone knew that Hiro didn't mean that he was going to use embarrassing things against them, just against Wasabi because the guy is funny to tease, apparently. Though they knew their boundaries.

"Hiro, if you're going to—"

"I'm gonna use the Wasabi Curse on you and you can't stop me."

GoGo wasn't so sure if Hiro would ever get such a chance, but decided to play along. "Alright, if you insist. We'll start at the beginning, as planned. We're all telling this story," she said, looking towards her companions for agreement. "I guess I'll go first." She took a seat, having just realized that she had been standing the entire time. They were now all in a circle. "It began at night, or really early in the morning, when I heard this weird sound in front of my house. Actually, many weird groans, all sounding really hungry. They all smelled horrible, too, and I was curious enough to look outside the window of my room to figure out what was going on."

Honey Lemon continuously looked back and forth between Hiro and GoGo, just so that she knew he didn't feel uncomfortable. She could only hope that her friend didn't go into detail about how they looked. It seemed as though describing them would also scare the young boy and that was something she didn't want. It was bad enough that he was freaked out when he had to encounter one, even if it was a slow one. It was still pretty bad.

Hiro could already see the horde, all the different infected that walked or sometimes even ran (it really sucked when a track star became infected) and the thought terrified him but he swallowed it down and listened to GoGo's story as it went on.

"There were some that had been shoving others, others had been running, then I saw one of them. It had no skin, or it did, the amount of it was so small. Every time it took a step, there was a trail of blood."

The skinless ones were some of the worst in appearance, but they thankfully didn't last very long. Hiro wasn't sure why it was so. These were supposed to be walking corpses, after all. What did it matter if all the blood was gone?

"I was horrified. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I could only stare, and then I almost didn't see that one snuck into my room." GoGo was strangely calm about this, as if she had learned to desensitize herself to this world. "It was a good thing that it was loud, and then I smashed its head. I don't remember what I used." She bit her lip now. "I ran to my parents' room to warn them and get them to leave with me, but they were being  _eaten_  by more of these things. I had to leave them behind, just take my bike and go check on my friends, without disturbing the zombies. To this day, I don't know if they ever screamed."

Hiro looked down at the ground, beginning to wonder what had happened to his parents. Did they get bit? Then he froze up at the thought of it. His parents just driving home, stopping when they were supposed to, only to be attacked by one of those  _things_ , eaten alive and wandering back... Had they screamed? Did they scream for help? Where were they bit? What if they were still alive in their bodies? No, that couldn't be... They were dead, weren't they? If they were, how did they know to go back home? Shouldn't they have lingered in that area?

His questions were slapped away when Honey started talking and he listened to her story next. "I was doing what I always did every time I was alone in the house. Mom and dad got me these weird beads that soaked up water and grew into larger, softer orbs. I can barely remember the name since it was insignificant but I did throw them around my bed sometimes. Like GoGo, I heard some groaning outside and I got curious."

Despite his initial discomfort, Hiro found himself being engrossed in hearing how these people dealt with the beginning of this apocalypse. In all the years of surviving with only his family, he had never once thought about how others must have felt. He should have known he, Tadashi, and Aunt Cass weren't the only ones struggling.

"There were two people outside, two people I didn't recognize. I tried calling Wasabi, only to notice that the lines always went dead. So I got scared and I hid out in my room until GoGo came by. She killed the two infected somehow and she dragged me out of my house. I haven't heard from my parents since but I still hope they're out there somewhere. Maybe looking for me, you know?" Hiro nodded and then looked at Wasabi who looked rather worried about the boy because he just noticed... he was next.

Wasabi sighed and decided to just get this over with. "As for me, I was sleeping. My folks were out of town and I had the house to myself, but I always locked the door to my room anyway when I slept. It was a good thing, too, because it might as well have saved my life." He glanced at the doorway real quickly before continuing. "One of the corpses was banging on my door, since it can't open, and I woke up. I was ready to go see what was going on when it suddenly stopped and GoGo and Honey were shouting at me to open the door and go to Fred's place. When I opened the door, I saw the infected lying there, bleeding all over the floor, and I was so ready to clean up the mess! The two of them had to drag me out before we wasted any time." He smiled sadly. "I wasn't even able to tell my folks that I had to go. Like Honey, I don't know what happened to them, but I hope they managed. Somehow, I doubt it."

Now that their stories caught up, and their fourth member wasn't there to tell from his own point of view, they decided to narrate together. "When we got to Fred's place, we found him trying to defend himself from the infected, but also rambling about how exciting this whole thing was!" GoGo had to laugh wryly at that. "He was never one to take these things seriously. They were all adventures to him. I actually wondered if he was dropped on his head as a kid."

"We were actually surprised he hadn't left on his family chopper yet," Wasabi continued for GoGo. At Hiro's confused look, he realized that maybe the boy had no idea why Fred would have a helicopter. "His dad's a famous comic book writer." A nod of understanding from their guest prompted Wasabi to continue. "It turns out he fell out of the helicopter, though we're not sure why. We know even  _he_  isn't so dumb as to take on zombies."

Honey was the third to speak. "We got a bit off track. After we mowed down the corpses, we decided to stick together to try to survive," she said. "We needed some help, though, and we were lucky enough to have been part of a pretty good survival group. The ones who took care of us the most were a college professor named Robert Callaghan and his daughter, Abigail."

"We didn't get to stay in that group for long, though. They eventually decided there were too many people and they had to get rid of the least useful." As she spoke, GoGo gritted her teeth. "We didn't like the way they ran things before, but the last straw was when I heard they were going to get rid of one of us. We weren't going to just sit there and let us get separated, so we became our own group. By then, we knew enough to know how to survive."

More silence as they decided who should speak next. Honey decided to finish the narration. "These past years have been all about surviving, finding a shelter to stay at for a while, and then leaving. We never joined another group, but we did help some people when we can. Nothing was different until a month ago, when we came across Fred's butler, Heathcliff, at one of the safe zones." Their missing friend's excitement had been greater than usual at the time and Honey smiled at the memory. "Through him, Fred finally got to talk with his dad again, and now we're heading to San Fransokyo to meet him. He's part of the authority there and has some space reserved for us, so maybe we can finally have a permanent home."

They all suddenly frowned and Hiro had an idea he knew what they were going to mention next. "We don't know how, but it seemed someone overheard us and decided to use our friend to get into the Safe Zone. Just after we found a temporary shelter on the way, somehow we decided it was a good idea to split up to collect supplies rather than use a buddy system. They took him soon after we split, but GoGo just happened to see them, so at least we know the culprits." They all relaxed now that they got through that part of the memory lane. "You probably know the rest from there."

Hiro nodded and then he sighed. His turn. Perfect. He decided that if he wanted them to know, might as well explain it his as he'd done before. "I was asleep, like Wasabi. It was a quiet night, cold and all, but it was with my brother and he kept me warm. I woke up to someone holding me tight, like someone else had been threatening us. I had been half-asleep until I heard two gunshots and that's when I woke up completely." The other three were careful listeners, all soaking in the story. "I didn't realize at the time, but I learned later that my aunt shot my parents, who had been infected."

Honey put her hands over her mouth as she gasped. She wanted to apologize that Hiro had to go through that at such a young age, but she wasn't sure if he had finished. Wasabi and GoGo gave sympathetic expressions. All the while, they waited for Hiro to continue.

"Tadashi sounded ready to cry. He sounded so scared, shaken up, like he hadn't believed what he'd seen. I wasn't allowed to see much, he just covered my eyes. All Aunt Cass said was that they weren't our parents. Not anymore, at least. So we packed. I didn't completely understand how this whole apocalypse thing worked so I kept begging Tadashi to wake them up. 'Take them with us!' I can still hear him telling me that we couldn't. That they weren't Mom and Dad. I remember looking back at them and thinking, 'They look scary.' Once we finished packing, we left. That wasn't all, though.

"We got gas for the car and all, boring stuff, and once we made it to the highway, just about every stupid survivor got too impatient and they left their cars. We only got out because if we didn't, the infected would have caught us. Aunt Cass made Tadashi run first. He had a weapon, so we didn't worry too much about him. We were supposed to run after him but the infected were coming closer, getting faster, so she told us to duck under the cars. The backpacks we carried were huge so we couldn't stick under one car. I was left alone..."

Wasabi snapped his fingers as if he knew something. "Ah, just like that zombie apocalypse show. What was it called again?" When no one answered, only glared, he shrugged. "Uh... Sorry. Continue?"

Hiro didn't really mind. He had wanted some commentary at some point. "Sure. Anyway, I was alone. I guess we could have just dropped our backpacks, but we weren't thinking at the time. We only thought to hide. It was terrifying. I remember quietly calling for my brother." He started to shake, but he willed himself to continue.

Honey Lemon put a hand on his shoulder. "Hiro, you don't have to force yourself."

"No, it's fine. I can do this," he insisted. "I... I guess I wasn't quiet enough. One of the infected heard me and tried to catch me under the car." His breathing became labored. "T-Tadashi got rid of it. I don't really remember much of what happened after except for gunshots and slashes. I just know that we all managed to get away safely..." That face appeared and he clutched his head. "Not now... Please, not now!"

Honey Lemon pulled him into an embrace and began to quiet him down, rubbing his back and saying soothing words to back her up. She knew Hiro wanted to get that out but she didn't realize how bad it had been for him. Seeing as how he was only a small child around the time, almost having been killed by an infected can scar you for life. It seemed after that day, he had developed a fear of them.

That's why he was so scared earlier.

"Hey, Hiro, it's alright. You're safe now," Wasabi told him in an attempt to calm him down, but that did very little. He was at a loss for what to do. He hadn't prepared for a kid to have a mental breakdown!

GoGo moved a bit closer and patted Hiro's head. "It's gone now. You don't have to worry about it anymore." No use. She suspected that the only one who can properly comfort him was his brother, but it was too dark and dangerous to go looking for him. They could only wait this out.

Honey Lemon looked up and sighed, mumbling a few words to herself like, 'Note to self,' before she turned back to Hiro. "It's okay," she said quietly, trying to get him to calm down. "It's gone now. We'll keep you safe from them. You could stay with GoGo, she'll show no mercy, like your brother. They probably have a lot in common."

"Hey!"

"Hush up, it's true!" Wasabi said, giving her a look that just told her to play along.

Grumbling, she sighed and turned to Hiro. "Yeah, you're my... imouto for now."

"That means 'little sister'," Hiro pointed out.

"Looks like Fred is rubbing off on you." Wasabi wasn't sure if the momentary smile on GoGo's face was real or imaginary.

Whatever the case, she gave him a light punch in the shoulder. "Shut up."

Hiro smile slightly at that and he waited until Honey Lemon let go of him. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he was pretty sure GoGo actually looked like she was having fun. "Sonic, are you smiling?" he asked, smirking when her smile faded and she pretended to glare at him.

"Seriously? Sonic? What kind of nickname is that?" She tried to sound annoyed, but her amusement was clear.

"Well, you do have a thing for speed, GoGo."

"Then your shrill scream makes you Armin."

"I do  _not_  have a shrill scream!"

"Then what do you call this?" In an exaggerated demonstration, GoGo proceeded to pretend to scream and then she flailed her arms a bit for effect. Wasabi glared at her and was about to protest but then Hiro and Honey Lemon burst out in laughter.

Hiro had no idea how Wasabi screamed, really, but the imitation GoGo had given was hilarious. "Dude, you scream like Armin?" he asked between laughs.

Oh this night was so embarrassing for Wasabi.

"Totally does. You should have heard it when a crate nearly fell on us," GoGo answered for him. "He was freaking out so much he didn't realize it fell  _next_  to us instead." She pretended to scream again, earning more laughs and a groan from Wasabi.

"Oh hey, I found the embarrassing thing that you won't get to live down," Hiro said, smiling when the man looked absolutely horrified. He could just hear him say, "This kid is evil!" And Hiro couldn't deny it, he was.

"What does your brother let you do for fun?"

Hiro shrugged. "Watch movies or build robots, I guess," he answered. "Not-so-evil stuff."

The laughter and fluster died down and they became fascinated. "You build robots? Like from a kit?"

"Nope. I can build from scratch." Hiro wished he had his Megabot to show them. "Tadashi and I like to look for scraps to work with. I made a fighting Megabot once, but I don't bring it out often. Maybe I can show you after we meet up with Tadashi."

For some reason, Honey Lemon had no problem believing that he built robots from scratch. This kid just seemed so smart that he had to have some kind of talent. Was he like them? Was he a 'nerd'? Well they'd just have to find out. She decided to put him to the test.

"We have some tools in Wasabi's room. Think you can build something?" she asked, feeling excited when Hiro's eyes lit up.

"Do I! Let's go!" Hiro soon dashed out of the room, not caring that his leg was killing him and he didn't even know where he was supposed to go.

The others followed, or at least began to. In the end, only Wasabi left the room. GoGo had lingered behind and that worried Honey. "GoGo? Are you alright?" Honey asked her and she ended up staying behind as well. "Is there something bothering you?" GoGo only sighed, nothing more. Was it the stories? Had it been because Hiro had a breakdown?

"This isn't good," she finally said after a while. "We've only known him for a few hours and now we're getting attached to him. I don't think this will end well." Bonds were dangerous at this time, especially when one can never tell who to trust and most especially when it was just about inevitable that someone at some point will get hurt. They couldn't deal with this right now.

As true as that was, Honey Lemon didn't want to let Hiro go. So easily and naturally, the boy had managed to become a part of their close-knit group. Isn't it only natural that she wanted him to stick around, even though she knew he would be fine once he was back with his brother?

GoGo sighed again, this time almost sadly. "I guess we'll have to figure out what to do tomorrow." With that, she walked past Honey Lemon and headed to Wasabi's room to check if the two guys were there. The clinking of tools answered in the affirmative and she couldn't help but smile genuinely. It felt like forever since there was this relaxing and probably  _normal_  atmosphere. Would there be more of this once they reach the San Fransokyo shelter? Would it still be there after Hiro goes back to his brother?

* * *

Tadashi grabbed his—completely full—backpack, as well as Hiro's (also completely full) bag, and pushed himself out the door. He was tired and could barely think straight, but he made it through the night. That's all that he really cared about right now. He knew that he didn't have time to sleep anymore. He needed to get Hiro back and as much as he'd kinda miss Fred's enthusiasm (seriously, two days and he's already warming up to the guy), he wanted to make sure Hiro made it out unhurt. That's all he had to care about right now. Oh, and keeping Fred alive.

"Please tell me you know how to use a gun," Tadashi said and tossed one of his looted guns to Fred, who caught it easily.

Fred's expression was pretty smug. "Course I know how to use a gun. What do you take me for?" he answered, holding the gun out as if he was aiming at something before lowering the firearm. "So you remember where you're supposed to meet them?"

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "Course I remember where I'm supposed to meet them," he replied, mocking Fred's words just now. "What do you take me for?"

After Aunt Cass had gotten the needed items for this trip, she hopped down the stairs, not literally, and after saying goodbye to the living space, they went off. Wishing to waste no time, Tadashi led his aunt and Fred toward the charity drop that he and Hiro had gone to the other day. The designated meeting place should be to the west of it, if he remembered correctly.

Upon arrival, they found that it was eerily quiet, without a corpse in sight even though there had been frequent sightings at and around the charity drop. Where had they gone?

"Hey." A female voice rang out and Tadashi turned toward the owner of the voice: GoGo. Fred was seriously happy to see her, as he had cheered and was about to run over to her, but Tadashi held him back. GoGo gave him a small glare, but it quickly disappeared. "Don't worry, Hiro's here. Just settle down, okay?" With that, the man from yesterday appeared next to her and a small head with messy black hair popped out from behind him.

"Dashi?"


	6. Team Up

The fact that Hiro sounded well immediately raised Tadashi's spirits, but, upon finally seeing his brother, the bloodied bandages shocked him. It couldn't be...! "What the hell! You said they wouldn't hurt him!" he yelled at Fred before turning his attention to the other group. "What did you do to him?!"

"Relax, the people who were responsible for it are  _dead_ ," GoGo said in a strangely calm voice. "He's going to be fine. Honey helped him patch up." The other woman, presumably Honey Lemon, waved at them.

Hiro looked unfazed. Instead, his face broke out into a smile as his brother looked to him for clarification. "Bullet removals hurt like hell without painkillers," he said simply and, with Honey's help, hobbled over to where Tadashi stood. "I learned that the hard way." Despite the painful fact, Hiro was smiling brightly, like a kid who got his presents on Christmas morning.

Seeing that the other group had been telling the truth and that Hiro had indeed been taken care of, Tadashi pulled his brother into an embrace despite the hiss of pain from the boy. He muttered a quick apology and then felt a smaller pair of arms and a large ball of fur joined the hug. A squeal and some footsteps passed them and Tadashi knew that Fred was engulfed in a group hug with his friends.

When the Hamada group broke the embrace, Aunt Cass began checking Hiro over, frowning and yet smiling at the bandages on his leg and hand. "Oh, sweetie, we're so glad you're okay!" she murmured as she pulled her youngest nephew into another hug. On her shoulder, Mochi purred and rubbed himself against Hiro's cheek.

Fred's calling to them caught their attention. "Your  _imouto_  has been walking around the house with a hole in his hand! Do you know how epic that is?" The blonde man wasn't quite sure why Hiro was laughing, though, nor did he understand why Tadashi was looking at him with irritation.

GoGo punched him in the arm. "You just called him a 'little sister,' you doofus," she pointed out, though she couldn't help but smile.

"Don't worry, GoGo had that problem, too," Wasabi said, earning him a punch as well.

Upon hearing this, Fred smirked at the short woman. "Oh? Looks like I've been rubbing off on you." Another punch. "How many times are you going to do that?"

"As many as I need to," GoGo retorted, then she hugged him again. "It's good to have you back." In any other situation, she would have hated to say this, but it just felt natural now. So natural.

Hiro smiled at the interaction, but it dampened a bit when he remembered that this meant there was now no reason for the two groups to hang around anymore. Somehow, he felt he was going to miss them. Well, might as well get this over with. He opened his mouth to begin the farewell.

But a bullet whizzed by.

Instead of the beginnings of a goodbye, Hiro groaned. "Aw, come on! Really?!" he complained as he saw more threatening men. "Don't tell me they're part of the group, too!"

"Fine, we won't tell you," muttered Wasabi as he drew out his gun. Everyone took cover behind some cars before the shootout commenced.

"GoGo, I choose you!"

"Way ahead of you!"

Tadashi and Aunt Cass drew their weapons as well, already shooting at some of the men. This group was unnaturally large. "Who the hell are these guys?!" Tadashi shouted to no one in particular.

"No time to explain!" GoGo answered over the gunfire. She turned to face Honey Lemon, who crouched behind her with some calculating face. "Honey, get Fred and Hiro out of here. We'll follow behind as soon as we can."

The tall woman only smirked. "I have a better idea," she simply replied as she pulled out a light blue vial. Taking out a rubber band, she turned her hand into a slingshot and aimed the concoction at the gang, who was getting closer. Wordlessly, she shot the vial, watching it explode in front of the men. "Run while they're blind!" She didn't need to tell anyone twice.

Tadashi scooped up his brother and sprinted off with the rest of the group. Part of the man wondered where the woman called 'Honey' had gotten the vial in first place; the other part just wanted to know where their pursuers kept coming from. It was like a damn video game where these guys just respawn all the time!

A hand suddenly grabbed the back of his jacket, nearly causing him to almost drop Hiro. "Get in here, you moron!" said the presumed owner of that hand as it dragged Tadashi into a building and behind a counter.

Hiro winced at the sudden movement and covered his mouth to keep himself from making any noise. For the love of all gods and goddesses above because he wasn't sure what to believe in, these guys were  _everywhere_!

Wasabi peeked over the counter to watch as the gang members ran past their hiding place. Well, most of them did. A few did check the store, but didn't bother to explore for long. The dark man breathed a sigh of relief as they left. "Looks like they lost us, but it's probably best that we hang around here just in case," he told them. "So, as you might have guessed, those guys are part of the same gang that's been bothering all of us."

"Oh, that's fu—" Hiro was immediately cut off by his brother with a small push at the shoulder to shut him up.

"Any idea who the actual leader is?" Tadashi asked, then shook his head. "Scratch that, what's their gang name?" Oh wait, that's just  _perfect_. If they were going to be after both groups, that would mean they'd be stuck together until the damn leader actually gave up.

Oh, but then again, who would let go of two groups that killed  _several_  of your men?

"Never bothered to find out," GoGo answered nonchalantly. "We've been focused on other matters." She cast a quick glance at Fred who only shrugged.

"If they said their name, I didn't listen. I was too busy 'annoying' one of them with my amazing knowledge of the universe," he said, causing half of his group to roll their eyes. No words were spoken though, but the Hamadas suspected some comment would have normally come out by now.

All the while, Hiro stared at the doors, slowly breathing more and more heavily over time. There were corpses walking by, very likely going after the gang men. He whispered prayers over and over again in hopes that they wouldn't walk into the store.

Cass was the only one at the moment who noticed, and she ran a hand through her nephew's hair and covered his eyes. He seemed to calm down a bit, but she knew he needed his brother. "Tadashi."

"What?" Tadashi asked, turning to face his aunt, and then his brother. "Feeling sick? Hungry? Thirsty? What's wrong?" Hearing the groans was all the answer he needed and he began whispering assurances into his brother's ear.

Seeing that the conversations had stopped, Cass smiled apologetically at the group. "Sorry to interrupt. It's just…"

"It's alright," Honey interrupted, but with a reassuring smile of her own, "we know." Well, most of them did. It seemed Fred was the only one confused.

"Oh? He told you?" Cass was surprised, but nonetheless pleased. "He normally doesn't open up to others like this," she said mainly to herself. If there was a thing as fate, perhaps it was still working amidst the chaos. "As you can see, the circumstances have taken quite a toll on him. I wonder how much longer this will last…"

Honey Lemon glanced at her friends, all of whom nodded as if they knew what she was thinking, before turning back to the older woman. "Well, maybe you don't have to wait for the end? How about coming with us to the San Fransokyo shelter?" she suggested.

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Fred almost cheered, had he not remembered the situation. "What do you think, little buddy?" he asked Hiro, who wasn't responding. Fred didn't expect him to, though. The kid was obviously way out of his comfort zone.

Normally, Tadashi would have refused collaboration right away, but since this meant that maybe they would have a permanent home away from the infected, he might really consider this one. It had been seven years since this all began, such a long time roaming. This is the closest they've gotten to finally settling down and Hiro really seemed to trust this group. He just wasn't _absolutely_  sure yet. "Aren't shelters impossible to settle in? What makes you think you can get into this one?"

"My dad's one of the guys in charge of the shelter," Fred explained almost proudly. "He can pull a string or two and we'll be home free!" There was a rattle of the doors and then GoGo smacked him on the head for being too loud. "Anyway, I'm sure he can find space for a few more. So, what do you say?"

"No." Tadashi's answer was terse and troubled. "Your dad has influence, that's great, but that's what those guys were chasing you for, huh? I can't put my family at risk, then." If they stayed with this group, they'd be continually tracked down by the men. The infected were already stressful enough, even more so when taking Hiro's phobia into account.

"You have a point, Tadashi, but you've seen how well we've all held our own against the gang. I'm sure we'll be alright," Aunt Cass tipped in. "They seem trustworthy enough and we actually have an opportunity to rest."

Tadashi looked down at his brother, "What do you think we should do, Hiro?" he asked once he was sure he was calm enough to answer. "You want to take this gamble?" There was a silent plea to refuse them, to find some alternative, but even he was tempted.

All attention was on Hiro now, and he wasn't sure he liked that. Still, he already had an answer. "Yeah. We have nothing to worry about with them, and they're really willing to help us," he replied finally. "Let's give this a shot." He looked up into the man's face and saw lingering uncertainty in his eyes. "Dashi, please?"

Was… was he giving Tadashi the kicked puppy look?

"Yeah, Dashi, please?" Fred parroted.

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "That only works with Hiro," he muttered, facepalming. With a slight groan of defeat, he let his hand slowly slide off his face. "Fine, I guess we're a team now." No sooner had he said that did the doors break down and the groans that had been muffled outside gotten louder.

GoGo was quick as a minuteman, already shooting some down. Cass and Wasabi soon joined the fray and Honey was ready to toss a few vials when the horde got too close. The battlefield became a mixture of colorful smoke and sparks. "There's too many! We can't hold them off any longer!"

"There's a backdoor we can get out of! Retreat, quickly!"

All the while, Tadashi kept Hiro's face pressed to his chest, but he couldn't do anything to prevent his brother from hearing the groans. "Don't panic, Hiro. Just imagine a thousand people tripping over marbles and falling on Legos."

It was obvious that Hiro was trying not to whimper. "Tadashi, that sounds painful."

"Well, no wonder they're moaning!"

Their bickering was interrupted at the sound of the knob jiggling instead of turning. "The door's locked! We're dead!" they heard Wasabi shout in despair.

"Quit whining and woman up, for the umpteenth time!" GoGo yelled and shot a few more bullets before reloading and turning toward Honey Lemon. "You know what to do." She soon herded everyone to a relatively safe distance from the door while the spectacled blonde shot a vial at it, destroying its lock and causing it to swing open. "Go now!"

Again, no one had to be told twice. They practically tumbled into a thankfully empty alleyway, but the infected were not far behind. To add to the challenge of getting away, it won't be long before they become too exhausted to move on.

In the panic, Hiro managed to get a glimpse of his surroundings and spotted a manhole. They can escape to the sewers! "Tadashi, sewer hole!" he tried to shout over the noise, thankful when he noticed his brother heard him.

So did someone else, for that matter. "Yeah! Let's jump in the shit hole!"

"Fred!" While everyone else had already jumped in, Wasabi stood at the edge. "Can't we use a van or something?"

"How many times do I have to say it?!" GoGo snapped and she grabbed the man's shirt, attempting to pull him in. "You survived blood and guts for seven years! This shit is  _nothing_!" She gave another tug. "Now get in here or else I will personally shoot you in the face once you turn!" With that, they were already sliding into the sewers, landing on the concrete below.

Tadashi looked at Cass for a brief second to see how she was doing before his full attention was placed upon his baby brother. "How're you doing?" he asked quietly. "Anything hurting?"

"I'm fine." Though barely, Hiro added in his head. All the running was hurting his leg, but he didn't want Tadashi to worry so much. "I can walk now. My leg's feeling better."

"Sucks, because you're not walking." To prove his point, he tightened his grip on Hiro while still being mindful about his injuries. "I'm not letting you walk with those wounds of yours, baby brother."

"Did you have to call me that in front of them?"

"Maybe we should save the bickering for  _after_ we find a shelter?" Honey interrupted a bit reluctantly. "I mean, we aren't completely in the clear yet." The sewer wasn't the most ideal shelter, especially with the darkness and the possibility of wandering infected.

"Right, right." Tadashi, freeing one hand for a moment, took two bullet boxes out of his pocket and handed one to his aunt and the other to GoGo. He then handed his sword to Wasabi. "I hope you don't mind covering us," he said expectantly.

Wasabi looked down at the blade and then back at Tadashi. "I'll cover you," he promised. The sword had dried blood on it that decorated it's sharpened edge, but it still looked like enough to kill a walker, no problem.

GoGo took the presented bullet box and checked to make sure it was for the same gun she used. When she was sure there was a match, she nodded. "Definitely."

Satisfied after a nod from Aunt Cass, Tadashi took a few steps forward. "Let's go, then," he said and they all began moving.

The sewer was strangely peaceful and quiet, very spooky in this darkness. The smell would have had them fainting if they hadn't already been used to rotten stench. Well, Wasabi was having a bit of a hard time breathing, but certainly not passing out. Perhaps they should be thankful, then.

A small stream of light out of the corner of her eye alerted Honey to a potential exit. "Guys, I think there's a way out over there," she informed them, climbing up the ladder to check the surface. No infected in sight. "The coast is clear." She climbed out and then held out a hand to the others. "I'll help you up."

Tadashi was the first to move, helping Hiro exit before surfacing himself. Next was Wasabi, then Cass with Mochi, then Fred, and last was GoGo. They had left just in time, too, as they heard groans by the time Fred first stepped on the ladder.

As they took in their surroundings, they found that they were close to the outskirts of town. They could even see the freeway, with a faded green sign practically announcing that San Fransokyo was merely 153 miles away.

"That's gonna be a lot of walking," Tadashi muttered when he read the sign. "Fun." He looked down at Hiro and sighed when he saw him trying to stay awake. "Go to sleep, Hiro. You don't have to keep yourself awake for us."

Hiro was out like a light.


	7. Family Mornings, Sleepless Nights

This was the first night and Tadashi was not proud of himself. Hiro was in serious pain because of him now, because he wasn't careful that day, because he let them get separated. As punishment, he refused to let himself sleep until his little brother got better. What better to ensure this punishment than to volunteer for night watch?

It was hard to stay awake since everyone was sleeping rather peacefully, their soft breathing almost lulling Tadashi to sleep himself had he not remembered that he was doing this mainly because he considered himself a horrible older brother.

"Hiro's suffering because of you," he told himself in a tired voice. "This is just the beginning." Yes, the next few weeks would be an exhausting hell. He clutched Hiro tighter as soon as he heard him beginning to whimper, indicating the beginnings of another nightmare. "This time, I'm never leaving you alone."

It felt like years before morning finally came.

Tadashi pulled himself up off the ground, making sure he didn't wake up his brother. Hiro would wake up when he wanted to this time, he thought to himself.

A shuffling of grass nearby alerted him. A familiar dark figure sat up and yawned. "Mornin', Tadashi," Wasabi greeted tiredly.

Being much too tired to look intimidating, Tadashi only looked at the larger man. "Morning." Shit, did he sound exhausted?

"You sound tired, man. Didn't get much sleep?"

"What? Oh, no, I got enough sleep. I'm just not a morning person." What kind of reply was that? Did it even make sense? Damn it, Tadashi!

Thankfully, Wasabi didn't question it. "How is it that you've never fixed that?" he asked, getting up before the other man could answer. "Well, just get more sleep. Honey and I will handle scavenging duty today."

"I'm already up..." Tadashi muttered and tried to keep himself from yawning. He had to remember why he was doing this in the first place. He had to remember that he was the reason why Hiro was in pain. He had to remember that it was Hiro who was going through much worse. This was nothing. Nothing.

"You're clearly tired. Go back to sleep."

"I'm fine."

Wasabi put up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, if you insist. Really, though, Honey Lemon and I could handle the scavenging. How about you stay and watch for corpses?"

Tadashi had to admit, that wasn't a bad idea. "Fine." It seemed he may have had to put his baby brother down—no. He wasn't going to let him go. He took out a gun and shooed Wasabi away so no one caught him yawning.

He took the time to take in his surroundings. They had traveled quite a distance yesterday, reaching a relatively safe field where they could camp for the night. It would be easy to spot enemies from afar and they were still close to the freeway, where supplies or even charity spots could be. Not like they were in dire need of much now, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Tadashi felt a fluffy ball of fur rub against him and he smiled down at him. "Hey, Mochi," he greeted as he pet the cat. "Here to keep us company?" His question was answered when Mochi quickly moved away and returned to his sole owner, who was starting a small fire.

Cass opened a few cans of beans and sausages and poured their contents into a pot, rather satisfied with whatever mixture she had just made. Turning back to check on her nephews, she was pleasantly surprised to see Tadashi was already up, but he looked really exhausted. "Good morning, Tadashi," she greeted. "I was just beginning to make breakfast. How about you go back to sleep?"

"I'm fine, Aunt Cass," Tadashi assured her, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. "It's just been a very eventful day yesterday, you know?"

Aunt Cass nodded at that. Yesterday had been an eventful day so it was no surprise that Tadashi was tired, though he didn't have to insist to stay awake like this. "Well you should at least sit down. I'm awake now, so I can keep watch for you." She patted her gun, which was next to her.

Tadashi made no reply as he sat back down. He let his thoughts travel back to two days ago. Just what had made him part from Hiro? Sure, they were shot in the hands, but why had they moved  _away_  from each other? He tried to think of any explanation, anything other than the  _tiny_  possibility that he had been selfish and instinctively  _abandoned_  his brother.

That just wasn't possible…

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he felt Hiro stir in his arms. Tadashi put on a smile, hoping that he had erased all traces of his troublesome ponderings, as he prepared for this façade of happiness to be the first thing Hiro sees.

"Dashi…?" Hiro mumbled as he woke, blinking the sleep away from his eyes. He yawned and stretched one arm, the uninjured one, as the other dangled uselessly on the side. It was hurting a lot right now… "I had the weirdest dream."

"Did you walk into the ladies' room on purpose?" Tadashi snickered.

Hiro turned red. "Wha?! No! Why would you ask that?!" he sputtered, thrashing a bit and then yelping in pain as his bad arm hit something.

The smile was wiped off Tadashi's face as he grabbed his brother's arm as gently as he could and examined it. Looks like nothing out of the ordinary…

"Tadashi, I'm okay. Really, I am," Hiro assured him, trying to get up. His only and most difficult obstacle was Tadashi's arms. "You should worry about  _your_  hand." He wasn't sure why he had remembered it just now, but better late than never. "Fred said you had a hole in it, right?"

"Don't worry about me. I can handle it.  _You_ , on the other hand, got shot four times."

"Shot at  _five_  times."

"And got hit four out of five. You had an 80 percent chance of getting hit."

"Really, bro? Math? At a time like this, you're using  _math_?"

"Breakfast is ready!" Aunt Cass announced, cutting off their argument. She set the pot in front of them and handed spoons. "Bon appétit!"

Tadashi dipped his spoon into the pot. "Looks good," he said as he pulled up some of the beans. Instead of eating it, however, he moved the spoon towards Hiro. "Here comes the airplane."

"Dude, airplanes don't look like that," Hiro replied, rolling his eyes.

"Then use your big brain to imagine it."

"Oh my god, the poor passengers!"

"You're a titan! Eat it!"

"Titan shifter?"

"Sure, sure. Cannibal titan shifter. Now, eat it!"

The young Hamada snickered and smiled evilly at the spoon. "Prepare to die, humanity." He then proceeded to let his brother fly the 'plane' into his mouth. "Num!"

"Flight Bean has just disappeared," Tadashi declared with some kind of announcer's voice. He retracted the spoon and scooped up another spoonful, this time catching a sausage. "Here comes Flight Sawney." As this feeding process repeated, he had to be glad that it seemed Hiro, for once, wasn't seeing any of this as 'rotten'.

An hour passed before GoGo and Fred joined them for breakfast, and ten more minutes went by before Wasabi and Honey returned.

Only then had Tadashi finally decided to eat, just not a lot. When he dipped his spoon into the pot again and ate the first spoonful then put the spoon back, he shouted, "I HAVE CONTAMINATED THIS FOOD!" Though it sounded more like something Fred would say, he couldn't help himself.

Wasabi paled a bit. "Seriously?! You couldn't have gotten plates?"

"I thought you'd gotten over this," Honey Lemon giggled as she got a spoon for herself. "Just eat before this is all gone."

"You have an immune system for a reason," GoGo sassed. "Just hurry up and eat so we can leave. We want to get to the shelter in a few days, right?" Even with this, Wasabi seemed stubborn. _Seemed_.

The rest of the day was spent on simple walking, unbothered by infected. When night came, they set up camp on the side of the road again, this time near a strawberry patch. At least they already have a source of food for breakfast.

During the daily meeting, it was deemed unfair for Tadashi to watch on both nights despite what they considered his strange willingness to do so, so Fred decided to stay up. At first, the decision seemed unwise, at least for the Hamada half of the group, but the others seemed to have no problem and they had to trust their judgement.

Sleep soon came to take just about everyone else to the land of dreams, leaving Tadashi and Fred still conscious. The former gently ran a hand over Hiro's wounds, careful not to irritate them, as he tried not to let the guilt get to him too much.

"Well, it's been three days," Fred said smiling slightly at Tadashi. "Trust me now?"

Tadashi only had to shrug at that and he smirked. "Oh, I dunno, now it's gonna take three years for judgement," he said, pretending to be thinking. When he looked back at Fred, he saw the other had his mouth wide open in disbelief.

"It takes  _three_   _years_  to judge?!" The tone used for that whisper/shout was obviously faked and soon the two were laughing as quietly as they could. "Hey, you laughed!"

"I laugh at other things, you know. I laughed once when Hiro tripped over his own two feet when Aunt Cass said she was going to make hot wings. I laughed when Hiro dropped his first gummy bear jar because he was so excited and started crying about it; he looked so adorable."

Fred blinked. One. Two. Three times and then he realized Tadashi was smiling and it wasn't because something funny just happened. "Are you a secret sadist or something?" he asked.

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just weird that you think it was adorable when he cried."

"He was five."

"Now that makes sense." Fred could almost imagine a younger Hiro Hamada crying over spilled gummy bears and a younger Tadashi Hamada laughing but still trying to cheer him up. "Must've been nice to hang out with family, huh?"

"It was just so fun. When you have a baby brother to buy gummy bear jars for all the time, it makes life  _so much better_."

"Is that sarcasm?"

"Of course. But yeah, it was nice to hang out with family… I was pretty close to my parents, I guess. I mean, I think they loved Hiro more, but I still had Aunt Cass, my baby brother," Tadashi trailed off as if he were thinking and then he added, "and a bunch of robotic projects to keep myself busy, so I found myself caring less and less about the fact that Hiro was the family favorite."

"Have you ever gotten jealous?"

"Before I found a new hobby. Sometimes I found myself glaring at him from the other side of the room for a second or two before I slapped myself and pulled my own thoughts somewhere else. I dunno, I guess I enjoyed the attention from my parents and then they started paying more attention to him.

"Still, even if I hadn't treated him as nice for the first two years he was with us, he always followed me around and did everything I did, always tried to build the same things I did even when he couldn't hold a screwdriver properly. There was actually that one time he tried to follow me to school when he was three."

Fred's gaze turned to the ground. He looked kind of… jealous? "Heh, who would have thought? You two seem so close now it's almost impossible to think you didn't like him once," he said.

"It's normal to be jealous of a younger sibling when you're just a kid," Tadashi replied. "Seven years of having all the attention from your parents just to have it ripped away by a baby, it can really piss someone off, especially when that baby becomes the favorite." He smiled slightly and shook his head. "I was a really stupid kid then. I mean, I love my brother a lot, but I guess I expected my parents to at least spend some more time with me. I wasn't expecting to be the fourth wheel."

Fred opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. Not the time. "So, what changed? Got used to him or something?"

"Uhh, yeah, I guess. I mean, it got annoying the first couple times, but I ended up like my mom, cooing over just about every silly thing." Tadashi eyed him suspiciously. "Why are you so interested anyways?"

Now was the time. "Just wanted to know what it was like, being close to a family member," Fred answered with a shrug.

"Weren't you close to your dad? Isn't that why you wanted to find him in the first place?" Tadashi asked curiously.

"He's important to me, but I always felt this distance between us. He and my mom were always on vacay, after all," Fred replied after just a bit of hesitation. "So, I guess you can say I hadn't had much of a chance at a real family."

"I see…" Tadashi muttered. "So I guess the closest you've ever had to a family is that group, huh?" When Fred nodded, he mimicked him and smiled just a little. "Better than nothing, I suppose."

For a while, they remained like this, in the silence and staring at the stars. Tadashi hadn't really noticed before, but there were a great many stars, now twinkling in all their glory without the city lights blocking them out. Momentarily, he actually forgot about the world he was currently living in, just enjoying the light spectacle in the sky.

"Looks nice, huh?" Fred asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I guess." Where was he going with that?

"You ever wished on one of these stars?"

"Now you sound like you're looking for excuses to talk."

"It's just a question, ya stick in the mud. Now answer it. Master Frederick orders it."

Tadashi rolled his eyes. Well, if he could stay awake, might as well. "I did remember wishing my parents would pay attention to me again," he admitted, smiling sadly at the memory. At least it hadn't been anything horrible, like wishing his brother away or something. "Did you wish for anything?"

Fred was quiet for a long time, as if trying to think of a specific wish. "... Yeah, I remember wishing for a lot of things…" was his answer instead.

He had sounded uncharacteristically sad, so Tadashi didn't pry anymore. Instead, he just continued to stare at the stars. Well, he checked for any nearby infected first. There were a few large stars that he could probably wish on, though what could fiery balls of gas do? Maybe for the heck of it… "I wish the world can go back to the way it was soon," he muttered to himself, "and I wish my family can stay alive to see it happen."

Before he knew it, he spent the rest of his night making the same wishes.

Morning came and Fred was fast asleep by then. Hopefully, someone would be able to carry him, because Tadashi wasn't going to take up that task. Heck, he wondered if he'll be able to carry Hiro all day. Actually, there was no question that he would, even if his strength waned away.

For the time being, until someone woke up and decided to start breakfast (because, let's face it, the man couldn't cook for his own life), he decided to just rest his eyes a bit. It wasn't pleasant, considering the harsh, freezing wind in the air. Having the cold bite away at your face isn't the best feeling in the world.

"Tadashi, are you awake?" a small voice called out. It sounded feminine and, for a moment, Tadashi almost forgot who this voice belonged to. It took a while, but he was able to identify it as Honey Lemon's.

"I'm awake… Just unable to open my eyes for now." He'd been up for more than forty-eight hours and he was sure he'd end up hallucinating very soon. If he was actually talking to no one, then he had no doubt that by the time his fourth night had been gone, Mochi would definitely start talking. Maybe he'd even start cussing on the fifth night.

"Oh, well, can you watch the others while I go scavenging?" Honey asked. "I'm going to collect some strawberries."

"You should take Fred with you. If you promise him some food, I'm sure he'll be up before you can say 'science'. I'll keep watch for you." Again, he added as an afterthought.

It seemed Freddie did not like that idea. He groaned a complaint and moved so that his face was against the ground, only to jolt up and sputter for air. "Dirt still anoxic!"

Honey rolled her eyes. "If you want, Fred, you can get more sleep," she told him, patting his head. "But next time, try not to fall asleep on night watch." With an empty burlap sack from who-knows-where, she made her way to the strawberry patch to gather breakfast. After she had left, Fred immediately dropped back down and seemed out like a light again, as if he had never been awake at all.

Tadashi snickered and picked a leaf, sticking it down Fred's shirt just for fun. When the other didn't wake up, Tadashi took several more leaves and pushed them down his shirt and snickered once again. He was going to be uncomfortable until they fall out.

Seems they were going to be out sooner than expected, for Fred suddenly got up, his arms positioned like claws over his head. "I'M THE LEAF GUARDIAN!"

Startled, Tadashi yelped and jumped back, careful not to wake Hiro. "I thought you were asleep!" he whisper-shouted, only causing Fred to laugh at him.

"Man, you shoulda seen your face!" Fred managed to say, pointing at Tadashi and clutching his stomach at once. The leaves stuffed in his shirt slid out and gathered around him, scattering a bit with the wind.

Tadashi huffed and mocked a pout before he chuckled. "Well, I didn't, so sucks." Amidst Fred's laughter and Tadashi's trembling (it's hard trying not to laugh), Hiro woke up.

And the first thing he did was groan. Then he complained about people being too loud and he wrapped his arms around Tadashi's neck, going back to sleep.

Fred looked around and saw everyone else was still asleep. "Weird. They usually wake up right away," he noted, but smiled a little. "Well, less yelling for me." He settled back down.

Tadashi rubbed Hiro's back soothingly as he slept and he leaned back against a board. Night two, done. Now he just had to deal with this until his brother was better. Until then, he wouldn't let himself get any sleep, no matter how tempting. "Tired?" he asked Fred, rubbing his eyes to keep himself awake.

"Pretty much." The blonde gathered some leaves to try to make a pillow. It failed. "I can never get used to waking up at dawn. Unless it's to read comics or play video games, but it's been a long time." The last game played was years ago; the last comic read was months ago.

Tadashi looked at him blankly for a moment, as if he were registering something and then he gasped. "Wait, I got something." He looked around for his backpack and when he found it, he dug around and pulled out several looted comic books.

Seeing the comics out the corner of his eye, Fred jolted up and excitedly snatched them out of Tadashi's hands. "No way! I can't believe you got these!" he exclaimed happily as he began to read one. "And you even managed to get one I've been dying to read. It's official: you're the best!"

Tadashi only chuckled at that and turned his attention back to the others and making sure nothing was going to come around to hurt anyone. "So, what is this comic book you've been wanting to read?"

"Radiated Rider," Fred answered, not looking up from the pages. "My dad helped make this one and it's one of my favorites. I've been wanting to read it again, but I could never find it. My friends don't really stop by book stores often." He shifted a bit to get into a more comfortable position and then a small, folded paper fell out. He paid little attention to it.

"Oh, I think I stole someone's comic..." Tadashi muttered, picking up the paper. "Sorry excuse for a bookmark, really. Hiro and I could have made something better with a smaller fluff of paper..." At the mention of his name, Hiro shifted and lightly slapped Tadashi's face, mumbling something about his brother being loud.

"Finders keepers," commented Fred. He soon got curious and looked at the paper, seeing an upside-down signature. A very familiar one, at that. "Hey, let me see that." He took the paper from Tadashi and turned it around. No wonder! "Say, Tadashi, where did you get these books?"

"Uhh... I dunno, it was from one of the charity drops. The others, I found some time while looking for Hiro. You know, he wouldn't have been happy with me if I left your oh-so-amazing comic books in the stores. Every book needs a fan after all," Tadashi replied, rubbing the back of his neck and then lightly slapping Hiro back.

Hiro groaned and slapped his brother again, harder this time, but not very hard. "Daaasshhiiii's meeaaaannn," he whined. "Heee hiiiiit meee. Mooommmyyyyyy."

Tadashi sighed and ran a hand through his impossibly neat hair. "You hit me first, you little brat."

"Mooommmyyyyy. Daassshiiii caaalllled meee sommeeethhiiiinnng meeeaaaan."

"Don't worry, sweetie. Mommy will handle it."

Both Tadashi and Fred turned toward the sound of the voice, finding that Honey Lemon had returned. She carried what looked like an outrageously large sack of something dripping red.

The blonde woman smiled sweetly. "Breakfast is ready," she declared. Setting the bag down and opening it to reveal strawberries. "Help me wake everyone else up."

Fred smirked mischievously. "I got this," then he screamed, "GUYS! GUYS WAKE UP! IT'S URGENT!"

Hiro was the first to wake. He started whining and he buried his face in Tadashi's shoulder, slowly drifting back to sleep when his older brother curled around him and covered his ears.

Wasabi was the second to wake... while screaming, "AHH! THE INFECTED! THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE HERE!" His yells woke up GoGo and she punched him in the shoulder.

The irritated female looked around. "This better be important," she growled at Fred after finding no infected in sight.

"Breakfast time," Honey announced, gesturing to the bag of strawberries. "I've got plenty for everyone."

Ignoring the announcement, Hiro nuzzled Tadashi's shoulder. He'd been oversleeping a lot now and somehow he wasn't complaining about being too awake or anything. Most of his days, he just kind of slept.

And that worried Tadashi. A lot.

As the others, partook in strawberries. Tadashi barely ate anything himself. He was busy trying to wake Hiro up so he could eat. When his baby brother refused, Tadashi took a strawberry and put it right in front of his lips.

"Don't wanna eaaat..."

"They're strawberries, Hiro," Tadashi said softly. "They're still good, I promise. No rotten food today."

"Nnnooooo..."

Tadashi moved the strawberry just a tad bit closer. When Hiro protested again, he slipped the fruit in.

"Dammit, Tadashi..." The boy would have spit out the strawberry, but he found himself chewing the seedy fruit. "Now you eat some." Hiro proceeded to pick a strawberry from the bag and hold it up to Tadashi's mouth.

The elder kept shut, but he smiled a little and took that strawberry from Hiro, just to pop it in his mouth again. "You need more food than I do right now, okay? I can eat later. You, on the other hand, like to sleep all day, so you're gonna need to eat before you hibernate again, you little bear."

Hiro grumbled and buried his face into his brother's shirt. "Nnnooo... I don't need it..." he whined. "You have to walk all day. And carry me and stuff. You need lots of energy."

Aunt Cass rolled her eyes and pulled him away, exposing his face. "Here's your opportunity, Tadashi," she giggled while her youngest nephew squirmed in her arms.

Tadashi grabbed another strawberry and fed it to Hiro, not caring whether or not the young boy really wanted to eat it. "I slept all night. I have plenty of energy." Lie number 1. "I don't need any food right now. I'm not hungry." Lie number 2…

"Liar! You were sitting up all night," Hiro said, trying to turn his head away to avoid yet another strawberry. "You even have bags and dark circles under your eyes!' He pointed to the flabs of darkened skin that appeared.

Tadashi rolled his eyes and stuck the strawberry between his brother's lips before anything else and he covered his mouth so he could not spit it out. "If you know what's good for you, you will eat that strawberry. I don't care if you lick my hand," the man playfully warned, trying to think of an excuse to get away from the accusation. When he found one... "And these have been here for a really long time. I don't know how you didn't notice it before."

"You sure about that?" Aunt Cass asked. "I hadn't seen them before either. Have you been sleeping well?" From experience, she knew her oldest nephew wasn't the type to admit his troubles. "You actually seemed really tired since the day we joined groups."

"You're both very blind, then," Tadashi said, laughing nervously. "B-because I've been sleeping a lot. You're just... never awake when I'm asleep..." He really hated himself for not being able to lie as well as normal people, and he hated how nervous he seemed.

Letting go of Hiro (he soon scrambled away), Aunt Cass gave Tadashi the questioning eye. "Tadashi, I've raised you for seven years. Don't think I don't know how to see through your lies." She then had an idea: they had a witness. "Fred, were you the only one awake last night?" she asked the blonde man in question.

All the while, Fred had been staring at the piece of paper Tadashi had handed to him, trying to decide whether or not to unfold it. He had to pause in his internal debate when prompted by the female Hamada. Feeling like not being an arse and getting Tadashi in trouble with his aunt (poor guy), he lied. "Yeah, I was. Then I fell asleep and put you all in danger," he mumbled and continued reading the comic the paper had been found in. "Like an idiot."

GoGo, who had been watching them out of boredom, frowned at Fred's response. If anything, she was concerned. He wasn't normally like this. "You okay?" she asked, getting up and walking over to him.

"I'm fine, GoGo." He shut the book and put in Tadashi's bag after being sure that he was allowed to. "Just leave it alone. Hurry up and eat so we can get going." Picking up another comic book, he started flipping through it to read.

The woman grabbed his shoulders and made him face her. "What's gotten into you? You were excitable and... loud just a half-hour ago." She spied the note in his hand and saw the signature, and she felt both a mix of curiosity and understanding. "I see, that's why." She let go then.

"Hey, Fred, do you want me to tell you about that time when Hiro was three and he tried climbing on my back and started crying?" Tadashi asked, eager to get off the subject and hoping to lift Fred's mood. "Aunt Cass thought it was adorable, but I thought it was hilarious."

"You were too frickin' tall!" Hiro exclaimed from his current spot on the grass.

"No, you were just a midget!"

Fred just made a brushing motion. "Nah. I'll just keep reading," he answered Tadashi's offer as he tried to read his comic. It was no use. For once, he didn't want to read.

Tadashi cast a worried look his way for a brief second before he turned back to Hiro. "And according to you, people who are only 4 feet tall are too high up off the ground."

Aunt Cass rolled her eyes and got up to drag the teen back. "All the more reason to eat more, sweetie, if you want to grow taller."

"Or sideways," Tadashi added, causing his brother to stick his tongue out at him. "What? It's true!"

Hiro only rolled his eyes and picked up a strawberry. "Eat the strawberry," he ordered and put it right in front of Tadashi's mouth. "Why is it called a strawberry? It doesn't look straw-related."

"Why are you asking a question like that?" Tadashi snorted. "I thought you were done with these kinds of things."

"Maybe I'm just curious right now."

"Guys, the sun is getting pretty visible right now," Wasabi reminded. "If we're going to get to the shelter soon, we need to get a move-on." He was already set to leave

Tadashi picked Hiro up, stumbling a little as he did so, and he was about to walk before he realized that he was leaving his backpack behind. For a moment, he really didn't want to carry it, but it was his crap. If he brought a backpack, he would carry it. It didn't matter if he was dead-tired right now.

"Buddy, you look ready to pass out," Fred commented. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Tadashi insisted, but perhaps he wasn't.

"I can walk," Hiro said. "You really don't look good." He tried to get out of Tadashi's arms, but his brother only held him tighter. "I'm serious. My leg doesn't hurt so much anymore."

"Hell no," the man muttered, using a free hand to try to get his backpack.

Fred took the pack for him and shouldered it. "I'll hold on to this for you. I don't trust you to carry your brother  _and_  a backpack right now," he said. "Just worry about taking care of Hiro, I'll worry about the epic bibles in this pack."

"Fred, they're comic books."

"Like I said, epic bibles."

"I can carry my stuff just fine. Hiro isn't very heavy."

"Pick one: Hiro or your stuff. I'm sure we all agree you'll pick Hiro." Fred began to walk ahead of Tadashi, not paying any heed to his protests.

Soon, no more words were exchanged and they began moving. Everyone kept an eye on the stubborn man, though, half-expecting him to drop on the spot or lose his grip on Hiro. The twitching didn't help ease any minds.

"Dashi, I can walk," Hiro said weakly. He didn't like that his older brother was ignoring him, nor did he like the twitching. Even though he claimed to be fine, Hiro couldn't bring himself to believe him. "Nii-chan—"

"You're not walking until you make a full recovery," Tadashi replied sternly.

"Maybe we should rest a little more," suggested Aunt Cass. "Tadashi, you really don't look well." She reached for her youngest nephew. "I can carry Hiro. You don't have to force yourself." She stopped when Tadashi moved away from her. It didn't look like he planned on resting any time soon.

"Dashi, Nii-chan, let me walk," Hiro said again. "Please, I promise, if it begins hurting, I'll go to Aunt Cass."

"N-no. I-I can make it, just..."

A loud, collective groaning caused everyone to freeze, with Hiro being as stone once more. They all gathered 'round, watching every angle for any movement. Sure enough, corpses began to appear as if from nowhere, getting up or moving around the scattered, abandoned cars. They all looked rotten… and strangely desperate.

Tadashi put Hiro on a hood of a nearby car and tossed a gun at him. "Keep a good eye out. If anything tries to attack you, shoot it, do you understand?"

The teen nodded shakily, pointing his gun at any infected that wandered too close (his range of too close was pretty large). His mind seemed to be on repeat, the word "rotten" appearing over and over again until it became hard to focus. The face of the corpse from years ago flashed in his mind and he had to keep his fingers off the trigger to avoid accidentally shooting his family or friends.

If only he hadn't been so distracted that he didn't check behind him.

An infected grabbed him and proceeded to drag him toward its side of the car. Hiro struggled and shrieked, trying to keep away from it, but it had a firm hold on him. "Dashi! Dashi!" He suddenly found himself upside-down, his back lying on the car's hood, and he was staring right into the mouth and teeth of the corpse.

Not a minute later, Tadashi threw the corpse backwards and stood in front of Hiro. When the corpse managed to get back up, he shot it in the head without a second thought.

For a moment, they were both silent, and when Tadashi opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, Hiro shouted, "Dashi, your left!"

The man barely had any time to react. Soon he found himself on the ground, his left forearm placed under a tearing chin as he was trying to keep the infected from biting him. He couldn't move to get his gun since he was sure that he could get bit if he tried to move. He also had to keep the hands from scratching him.

He made the mistake of letting his free arm move in front of him and his pain blossomed in his wrist, blood decorating his sleeve.

Suddenly, the rotten head exploded and Tadashi had to turn away to keep the blood from getting into his mouth. Rolling the corpse off, he panted, trying to calm himself down, and wiped off as much blood as he could. He then turned toward Hiro.

His brother's gun was smoking and he was frozen again. Tadashi took the moment to gather him into his arms and check him over. "You're okay? You're fine. Good, good," the man rambled, checking to see that there are no more infected in sight. He soon found himself suddenly tired. The exhaustion and the shock were taking a toll on him.

"Tadashi, you don't look so good…" Hiro mumbled, taking note of how tired Tadashi seemed just from that. Usually he would get back up and keep fighting until he'd pushed himself too far. This should have been nothing. "Are you sick?"

"I'm fine," Tadashi breathed, but the world around him began spinning. "Just... just..." He couldn't finish. The ground soon rose to meet him (or was he falling toward it?) and everything turned black.

"Tadashi!" Hiro cried out, trying to catch him despite the spike of pain in his leg. "Dashi!" He was soon pulled away by his aunt, who held him back and GoGo pulled her gun on Tadashi.

"No, no!" Honey Lemon yelled and slapped the gun so that it wasn't pointed at the fallen man. "Check him for wounds first!"

"H-he wasn't bit!" Hiro cried desperately. "He wasn't bit! I was there with him and he wasn't bit!"

"Then what's with the blood on his wrist?" GoGo asked suspiciously. "Why is that there?"

"I-I shot the infected. Its blood must have gotten on to him when I did," Hiro said, trying to convince himself that his older brother was fine.

"We're still checking for wounds, Hiro," Honey Lemon explained gently. "Just in case he may have gotten any open ones when he fell. We don't want the blood to get into his system."

Reluctant, Hiro nodded and waited for three minutes until he heard GoGo mutter, "Oh shit."

Curiosity and dread settled upon him and he made his way toward his brother. He saw GoGo holding up the bloody wrist and his eyes widened.

_Tadashi was infected._


	8. Oddly Long Wait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the HUGE delay! I, StoryJoker, had to deal with midterms and Ryan had to deal with wrtier's block. Oh, but we're back and writing again! Enjoy!
> 
> Edit: This chapter was unsatisfactory for me, Ryan, so I edited it to make Hiro less of a pathetic baby. I really don't care if some of you thought it was good enough as it was, I really hated it.

GoGo put a finger on the trigger and pointed her gun at Tadashi's head. “Stay back,” she ordered coldly, and they all listened… except for Hiro.

Despite the burning pain in his legs, he quickly put himself between the gun and Tadashi. “Don’t shoot him!” he cried desperately. “Don’t shoot him!”

Tadashi wasn't bit, Tadashi wasn't bit, Tadashi wasn't bit. That was all Hiro could think as he protected his brother from the bullet. He was supposed to be there when he had nightmares. He was supposed to be there when this all was over!

He _promised _!__

Pain flashed over GoGo's eyes and she moved the gun away. “Hiro, you know what happens when someone gets infected,” she said, staring said teen in the eyes. “Would you rather let him walk around as one of them?”

The boy just shook his head. “No! He’s fine! I-It’s only a scratch!” He turned and started shaking his brother. “Tadashi! Wake up and tell them! It didn't bite you! It didn't!” The man didn’t stir, so Hiro shook harder. “Tadashi!” Tears began streaming down his face, dropping onto Tadashi's still form.

Honey Lemon stepped up and ripped Hiro away from Tadashi, ignoring the way he was thrashing around wildly in her grasp. “Hiro, please understand! There's nothing we can do,” she told him sadly. “You’re only making this harder for yourself.”

“Hey! Wake up!” he continued to shout angrily. “This isn't funny! Get up! They’re gonna shoot you!” When GoGo raised her gun again, Hiro only panicked more and started yelling more. “NO! TADASHI! GET UP!”

“GoGo, wait,” Aunt Cass said suddenly. “Just hold on for a second.” She took the gun from the aiming woman and sighed, glancing briefly at her youngest nephew. “Don’t shoot him.” She ignored the shocked looks she received and walked over to where Hiro was.

“Ms. Hamada, he’s going to turn!” GoGo protested, but shut up when she saw Cass hand Hiro the gun.

“Sweetie, we won’t shoot him okay?” Aunt Cass assured to a quieting Hiro. “You get to decide what we’ll do instead. He’s your brother, so it’s only fair that you choose whether or not we finish the job.”

Hiro held the gun as tight as he could. “We're not shooting him," he practically snarled, tears streaming down his face. Then his voice softened and he became quieter. "Not until he turns."

They all looked at one another for moments before nodding. "All right," agreed Honey Lemon gently. "We'll wait." Surely, it wouldn't be too long a wait. Most infected would turn after a couple of hours. "Hiro, we're really sorry."

Hiro did not reply. He only broke away from her hold and crawled over to where Tadashi was and he snuggled up against his older brother's side. "Wake up, Tadashi," he mumbled and soon drifted off to sleep, the stress of the day getting to him.

It was night when Hiro woke up, lying on his side on a grassy bed. "Ugh... How long was I asleep?" he mumbled, trying to get up. He felt arms helping him and he smiled up, expecting to see his brother. Instead, Aunt Cass was there with a sad smile. "Aunt Cass? Where's Tadashi?"

"We moved him, just in case he turns. We wouldn't want you to get infected as well." She knew that he had nightmares without his brother, but she hoped that maybe Mochi or she could help keep them away, like Tadashi had.

"Turns? What are you—Tadashi!" He looked around frantically, finding his brother lying a distance away. "Tadashi!" The teen scrambled towards the unconscious man, looking him over for a bit and sighing in relief when he saw no stream of blood flowing from his head. Right, Aunt Cass had just implied that he hadn't turned yet. Hiro had scarcely been by his brother's side for a minute before he was quickly pulled away.

"Hiro, it's still not safe yet," another voice cut in. GoGo. "We're still not sure when he'll turn..." He'd been holding out longer than anyone else. She was surprised, to say the least. "It's best that you don't get too close to him.

"Stop treating him like a monster!"

"We don't want to risk it," said Wasabi, handing a bowl of some kind of food mixture to the two of them. "We've seen some infected suddenly grab people as soon as they turn. We don't want that to happen to you." He turned his gaze towards Tadashi.

"Though, in all honesty, this is the first time we've seen someone who lasted this long without so much as a twitch," Fred pointed out from a bit of a distance away.

"Don't try to bring false hopes up like that."

Cass sighed and put a hand on Hiro's shoulder. "If your brother pulled through, it would be great, right?" She highly doubted such a thing could happen, but a part of her kept wondering. "Come on, Hiro. You can't just lose hope. Think about it, the very first immune person we've ever seen. He could make a cure, and we won't have to worry too much about them anymore." But then there could have been the flip side that maybe his immune system was just stronger than others.

"Ms. Hamada, don't. If that was possible, we would have heard of it by now," GoGo said, a little more sympathetic. "It's only a matter of time now. No one has ever woken up the same after getting bitten."

Hiro looked away and sighed. He didn't care. He didn't care. Crawling over to his brother, he held him tightly and he bit his lip to keep himself from crying. He only hissed at the group and whispered a small, "Wake up."

He could already feel arms trying to dislodge him. "Stop, this is too dangerous," Honey Lemon warned sadly. "Hiro, please, let go of him." She tugged at the teen's arms, managing to peel one off the infected man.

"Leave me alone," Hiro muttered, still holding on. "Stop it." He just wanted to hug his brother before he became one of them, didn't they know that? "Tadashi, tell her to leave me alone."

"I think I saw him twitch," Wasabi squeaked worriedly, beginning to pull the teen.

Hiro struggled. "No! No! Tadashi!" Once dislodged, he clawed at his brother's shirt. "Let go of me!" The tears flowed freely now and he hated it, but he couldn't stop them. "Please! Wake up!"

Aunt Cass rushed over to her oldest nephew and put a hand to his forehead and the other one to his chest, where his heart was. There was a slow and steady beat and he wasn't moving at all. Still, he was overheating. "He's just sick, that's all," she breathed. "He hasn't turned yet."

"We still can't risk it," Wasabi insisted. "A fever means he's dangerously close to waking up. We don't want to give him a chance to bite." He let out a sigh. "Ms. Hamada, please get away from Tadashi. He's not safe."

"He's my nephew," Cass said, obviously also on the verge of breaking. "He's my nephew and only Hiro and I know when he's dangerous. W-we'll say when he's dangerous and when he's not."

Hiro struggled in their hold and insisted, "T-This is Tadashi we're talking about. Tadashi would never hurt anyone without reason."

"He's not Tadashi anymore, or at least not for much longer," GoGo told him. "He's just another corpse. Don't start forgetting that; it won't end well." She loaded her gun, but made no move to point it at Tadashi. "I've seen too many get killed because of their grief."

Hiro didn't let go of his brother. "Aunt Cass, please." He didn't look at the group. He didn't look at his aunt. "Tell them... He isn't dangerous."

Aunt Cass sighed. Hiro was always stubborn whenever it came to proving people wrong. "Then one of us can stay close to him. Don't separate them unless you want a screaming and kicking Hiro," which would attract more infected.

Honey and Wasabi paused and let go, allowing Hiro to get a further grip on his brother. He buried his face in Tadashi's chest and tried to focus on hearing his heartbeat. As long as it was still beating, he was still his brother, still alive. It was enough to distract him from the nightmare of reality.

Hiro breathed peacefully and closed his eyes. "Hey, you're still here, aren't you...?" he asked quietly. "Wake up. Wake up." He knew he wouldn't, but there was no one stopping him from saying it. "Come back."

GoGo watched with pity. Sighing, she moved towards them and sat near Tadashi's head. She'll be sure to prevent him from biting Hiro when he wakes. "Fine, I'll be the one to keep watch. At the very least, I'll make sure Hiro's guarded."

Aunt Cass would only nod and run her fingers through Hiro's hair, hoping to comfort him silently, the same way Tadashi had.

"Aunt Cass?"

"Yes?"

"When is he gonna wake up? He still has to help you with fighting the infected." 

Cass wasn't sure what to say other than, "I'm sure he'll wake up soon." She wondered if Hiro was just scared. It was obvious he couldn't live without his brother. He had nightmares more than usual and only Tadashi could keep them away.

Maybe he was scared of what would happen to him, too, if he lost Tadashi.

"Cheer up, little bro," Fred encouraged, taking a seat near them. "Tadashi's been out for hours. We've never seen anyone last this long after a bite." He picked up Hiro's abandoned food plate and tried to get it to catch the boy's attention. "Maybe your aunt's right and he'll wake up the same Tadashi you know and love."

Hiro didn't respond. He only closed his eyes. Tadashi was only tired. He just wanted to sleep. That's all. He'd wake up and soon everything would be okay again. He'd wake up the same Tadashi.

These are the lies Hiro told himself until he fell into a dreamless sleep.

GoGo glared at the man. "I don't recall getting you that many zombie comics," she said. "If anyone was immune, why has this whole thing gone on for seven years? Get back to reality."

"Hey, it's possible. I mean, when was the last time we heard any news?" Fred pointed out and held up three fingers. "Immunity is rare, no one else wanted to wait for someone to turn before shooting, and people already have a low chance of surviving in the wild." He shrugged. "Besides, seven years isn't a lot of time. It's not even a decade."

“You still have to account for the billions in the world.”

“It’s not really billions, anymore.”

“Either way, what are the odds that Tadashi is resistant to the bites? Just what are the odds?”

“It can happen.”

“Just go to sleep. Or maybe not. Looks like we’ll be staying here a while.”

As Fred shrugged and walked to find a comfortable place to spend the night, GoGo rubbed at her temples.. "Somehow, I think this is all a mistake," she muttered. "Well, the shelter isn't much farther away. We can afford to wait a bit longer." The emotional toll it would take, though, might be too great.

Cass nodded in agreement. "I'll keep watch," she said and loaded her gun. "If you hear a gunshot, you know we're in trouble." She sighed, looking down at her two nephews and smiled sadly.

Tadashi wouldn't look as peaceful as he does now when he wakes up.

"Nah, I'll watch," GoGo told her. "You've gone through some emotional roller-coaster. Might as well rest up." She also didn't trust Cass to be able to shoot Tadashi if he moved while everyone else was asleep.

Cass didn't argue, but she didn't rest either. Might as well make herself useful, or so she said. "Why don't you watch over Tadashi, and I'll keep an eye out for any infected?" There was a difference with Tadashi and the infected, she thought to herself. Tadashi was still Tadashi. He was still himself for now. They were monsters.

There was no point in arguing. "If you insist," was GoGo's only answer. She glanced at Tadashi, noting that, for some reason, his fever seemed less severe than it had been before. "Weird," she muttered to herself as she tightened her grip on her gun.

The night dragged on in silence. In the distance, there were sounds of infected and Cass prayed that they didn't have to take action. She constantly looked back to see her nephews sleeping peacefully and she smiled a little. Hiro looked less stressed…

Oddly, Tadashi didn't move a muscle throughout the night, though it was clear that he was still alive.

GoGo had watched closely throughout the night, first out of wariness, then out of curiosity. Crazy thoughts scrambled through her head, including the notion that maybe Fred's claim was correct.

"It looks like any other night, doesn't it?" Cass asked her, breaking the silence. "Almost as if he really hadn't been bit?" Her eyelids were feeling heavy with exhaustion now, but she managed to fight it off.

“Yeah. In all these years, I've never seen anyone last this long," GoGo admitted. "Now I'm not sure if it's because he's actually immune or if he's just that willful to live." Maybe he's holding on for his family. Somehow, she was interested in seeing how this would turn out.

Cass smiled slightly and turned back to the darkness in front, watching for any infected. "This is Tadashi we're talking about. That knucklehead is always willing to put his family first. He always wants to make sure that Hiro is okay. How is Hiro doing? Is Hiro eating properly? Hiro, Hiro, Hiro." Anyone with eyes could see that Hiro was all Tadashi really cared about in the long run.

"I can see why, I guess." Aside from their aunt, the boys only had each other. GoGo lightly hit her head a few times. "Damn, Fred's ideas are really sticking to my head. It must be lack of sleep," she muttered. "What if he really is immune? It sounds too good to be true."

"Sometimes the things that sound too good to be true really are true. The only thing is, they always come with a price. I'd be happy if he was immune, but I dread the day the universe names what it wants. It could be worse than we all imagine." It could be worse than death, she added silently. There were things she feared more than death itself.

"It could be a forced lottery. Maybe whatever deity in control decided to force us all into some lottery and the luckiest become immune. Maybe everyone already paid a price where only a select few get the compensation." GoGo couldn't help smiling. "Would be nice if that was the case, right?"

Cass nodded. "Yeah, it would be nice," she said. Yawning a little, she stretched her limbs and listened. The sounds were not too far off, but if they were careful enough, they'd be fine until morning comes.

When dawn arose, GoGo didn't wake anyone up. They could afford to scavenge later, as they might not be walking anyway. She decided to let her guard down just a bit, but not too much. Perhaps just enough so that she wouldn't shoot at first twitch.

Hiro was having such a nice dream, until the morning cold hit him like a thousand bricks. He felt like Jason Grace, ready to die because of these bricks, and he sneezed.

"Bless you," Cass said, staring at what seemed like nothing to her now. She too off her jacket and draped it over he nephews before returning to her post. It's been years since she'd done that.

Hiro couldn't go back to sleep, but he could at least stay there comfortably in Tadashi's arms. His heart sank, however, when he remembered the state his brother was in. He tried to expel it from his memory, at least for a little longer.

He might have if Tadashi's arms didn't tighten around him.

At first, he thought nothing of it. People did that all the time when they were sick, right...? Or even when they were simply asleep! Besides, this wasn’t the first time Tadashi instinctively tightened his hold. It shouldn’t be something that got Hiro worked up.

But his heart broke and dread filled him when his older brother let out a long, sick groan.


	9. Questions and Concerns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not a very exciting chapter, I'm sure, but it's at least a break from the drama? I don't know if I'm satisfied either...
> 
> ~StoryJoker

  
Tadashi let out a sickly groan.

Hiro wasn't sure if he wanted to pull away from fear or cling onto his brother in denial. He could feel his heart beating quickly and his breath became shallow. Two sides of him were fighting for control, for survival, for despair.

He couldn't bring himself to scream, but maybe it was better that way.

Tadashi’s arms tightened around Hiro and he braced himself for a bite that he thought inevitable, voices around him screaming and a gun clicking. This was it.

This was the end.

However, Tadashi only rolled to his side, bringing Hiro with him, and he muttered something under his breath, snuggling with his brother and soon was back to sleep like nothing had just happened.

Everyone else just kind of stood there, a little confused at what they’d just witnessed. They'd thought he'd turn already and here he was, still sleeping.

“What… the fuck?” GoGo was the first to speak, but even then there was hardly anything to say. Though it was for a moment, they all knew that Tadashi just moved, but he still no showed no signs of turning.

The next to react was Honey Lemon. “Something’s telling me he’ll make it.” She wasn't sure how she was able to say it so smoothly despite the shock. Next came excitement. If Tadashi did make it, what was it that allowed him to survive? The chemical possibilities rushed around Honey’s head.

Wasabi looked slightly concerned with how tight the hug looked. He looked really concerned when he couldn't see Hiro breathing. “I’m not sure if this is actually a cuddle or if he’s strangling Hiro in his sleep,” he whispered to Cass.

Said woman was unsure how to respond. She was too astonished, too relieved, too frozen to even shed a tear. Slowly, she approached the brothers, seeing that Tadashi looked peaceful, nothing like the ravenous corpses whose faces were forever contorted in expressions of agony and hunger.

Fred was just speechless with excitement.

Hiro looked up at his brother and tried to listen in to whatever he was mumbling. There were several incoherent words Tadashi pushed past his lips, but he could hear something along the lines of, “I’m not buying dirt for you…” and, “... eat my candy…”

Perhaps he was dreaming about the day he'd stolen his chocolate from his backpack on White Day and ate all his chocolate because Tadashi had hid his gummy bears and refused to buy him any more.

Hiro couldn't stop the wave of relief and he buried his face in Tadashi's chest, trembling as he tried to keep his tears inside. His brother's tightening his hold, as if worried, just made things a whole lot harder. Then the floodgates opened when Tadashi began rubbing his back.

“Nii-chan's here…” The voice sounded sleepy as hell, but he didn't really seem to be awake. “Nii-chan's right here… Don't worry... " It sounded reassuring, but then the breathing evened out and soon Tadashi was only hugging him tightly. “I’m still here.”

It was enough for Hiro. His brother was still alive. He was going to wake up someday.Still alive, still alive, his mind was chanting and seemed on the verge of exploding. “N-Nii-chan…!”

From the side, Honey was bouncing with excitement, holding back a squeal. “He talked, oh my god, he said words!” She grabbed the nearest person to her, who happened to be Wasabi. “Do you know what this means?! Tell me you know what this means!”

“Uhh… It means that there’s a chance of him turning when we least expect it and then he’ll kill us all?” Wasabi answered within the form of a question. “I’m not sure what you’re so excited about.”

Fred felt the urge to roll his eyes. “It means that Tadashi’s immune!” he said with the same amount of excitement. “That means that the cure could be made! We could save humanity!” Who wouldn't be excited about that? At least they’d have a way to stop the infection once and for all.

“I wouldn't be so sure,” GoGo noted. “First, we need to make it to the shelter. He’s immune, not invincible. Second of all, we don’t know if a cure or vaccine or whatever is possible. We need to be realistic here.” Well, as realistic as a zombie apocalypse scenario would allow.

“If it wasn't,” Fred countered, “there’d be no way for him to be immune. If there was no vaccine possible, he should have turned. Simple as that.” If it wasn't possible to make a cure, it wasn't possible for Tadashi to be immune. “Immunity equals chance for cure.”

“It doesn’t really, but we can still hope,” Honey said. “This is so great!” She then quieted down a bit. “I feel like we’re almost at the end of this nightmare.”  There was still the aftermath to worry about, but this world of terror was finally going to end.

Hiro could barely hear them as it was. He was just so busy relishing in the fact that his brother would be alive until the end of this. They’d be able to make it. Seven years of fear and it’s going to go away soon. Now all Tadashi had to do was wake up… “Nii-chan, okiru…”

As if he was responding, Tadashi mumbled, “Hai…”

* * *

 He was roused awake by the cold morning air.

There was an extreme sense of grogginess and weakness, yet there was still strength to take in sweet, sweet, water. The weight on his stomach moved and whimpered a little. Hiro came to mind. With some difficulty, he opened his eyes.

Someone gasped.

It sounded a little strange to him, probably because he hadn't heard anything in a while, so he just kinda growled and uttered something before rolling over on his stomach and coughing into the ground. God he hated being sick!

Why did being sick mean wanting to throw up all the time?!

He heard Hiro saying something, hands pulling him back and trying to support him. Maybe they didn't want him to accidentally breathe in dirt. After coughing and retching a bit, he managed to recover just enough to see everyone gathered around him (well, Wasabi was standing some ways away).

In any other situation, Tadashi would have been confused. In this case, he was just sort of trying his best to sit up. He was probably heavy to Hiro, so he didn't really want to bother him with how heavy his big-ass head was. As he did so, he muttered something stupid like, “Mom, Hiro is gonna have diabetes.” Sitting up, he blinked his eyes and rubbed them to get a better vision of what was going on.

Okay, so many things to note; GoGo looked like she’s just seen a ghost, Fred and Honey Lemon were excited as hell, Wasabi seemed scared as fuck, and Hiro and Aunt Cass appeared just about ready to cry. If just sleeping makes them act like this, he'd have to be careful not to get bit.

Oh, who was the first to give a reaction? Believe it or not, it was Honey Lemon. She’d squealed as loud as she could (and Tadashi snarled at her for it because his head still hurt) and she quickly approached him and pretty much asked the strangest and probably the creepiest question he'd ever heard in his life. “Can I take a sample of your blood?”

Okay. The most appropriate reaction question to him at the time was, “What the fuck?” You couldn't really blame him for actually saying it out loud without meaning to.

“Hm… Maybe not the right question without the proper materials,” Honey mused and she stepped back. “Tadashi, what’s the last thing you remember?” Her excitement was still there, and it was clear that something big had happened that he must have missed.

“Uh… I… Hiro took all my god damn chocolate on White Day because I refused to buy him gummy bears?” He knew that what he just said was more of a dream than anything else. “I fell asleep. And suddenly I’m waking up to you people freaking out! I just got sick! Gods, I’d hate to see how you’d react to me being bit.”

“Look at your right wrist,” GoGo said suddenly. “You'll probably be as shocked as we are.”

Tadashi raised a brow but did as he was told. Ripped bandages and… and a bite mark. It all suddenly came back to him. They were ambushed, a walking corpse had grabbed Hiro, Tadashi got into a tussle, and then pain and everything went black. “I don’t get it. Why didn't I turn?”

“Isn't it obvious, bro? You're immune!” Fred exclaimed. “You will be the savior of humanity! It’s the dawn of a new age!” Somehow, that sounded more ecstatic and weird than normal.

Hiro, who’d been silent for a majority of the time, hugged his brother and buried his face in his chest so that his tears wouldn’t be shown. He did say something later on, but it was hard to hear him at all.

Instinctively, Tadashi wrapped his arms around Hiro as well and let him cry (the tears were hard to miss) as much as he wanted. After all, he’d probably scared the living shit out of him for… for how long? “How long was I out?” He felt like he’d slept an entire year (or could sleep another), but he knew that that wasn't going to happen (unfortunately).

“Almost a day now. If you'd waited a couple of hours, you would have been out for twenty four,” GoGo said, crossing her arms. “How could you be immune?” It was more of a question she was asking to herself rather than Tadashi, but it didn’t mean that he still didn't hear it.

“If I knew, I'd probably answer that question.”

“No need to. I'm sure none of us know.” Rolling her eyes, GoGo let out a sigh. “In any case, you've survived a bite. You at least don’t have to worry about turning.” She paused as if considering something. “But that doesn't mean you can start being reckless. You're still human.”

Tadashi merely glanced at Hiro. “So, if I’m immune, does that mean—”

“Don’t start assuming. He’s your brother, but he’s not your twin.” Another pause and then she looked toward the sky. “We’ll spend this day letting you recover. Tomorrow, we’re moving again. Our supplies are dwindling.” With that, almost everyone dispersed, leaving the Hamadas alone

Her expression unreadable, Aunt Cass wrapped her arms around Tadashi. “Are you okay? You don’t still feel sick?” When the man shook his head and smiled reassuringly, she began pulling at his ears, though more out of relief than anything else. “Do you have any idea how scared we were?! Your little brother was in tears! We’re going to have a long talk right”— Mochi suddenly meowed at her, demanding attention—“after I tend to Mochi. A long talk!” With that, she let him go and hurried off with the cat.

After a moment of embarrassing silence, Hiro finally spoke. “I sort of expected you to say something stupid like, ‘Does that mean if we get into a tight situation, I’d get to be the first one bit?’ or something.” He laughed bitterly and wiped his tears on Tadashi's shirt. “Now,” he looked at his brother, his eyes still glassy, but he still glared at him. “You were weak with exhaustion. Why?” He didn't exactly expect his brother to answer his question, but he still had to ask.

“Does it matter?” Tadashi replied. “I've had rest now. Just let go of the past.” He didn't want a lecture from his younger brother. “I didn't mean to worry you.” He didn't want Hiro to feel responsible for his fasting.

But Hiro wasn’t planning to let it go. "It’s not like you couldn’t rest. I want an explanation.”

"I couldn't sleep." That may have been half a lie (or three-fourths of a lie), but he couldn't bring himself to really care. If he didn't sleep, he didn't sleep. "There's no real explanation to me not being able to." There was, but he wouldn't say it.

And maybe it was because he wasn't as good an actor as his brother was, or maybe it was the fact that him being super sleepy over the days he'd been awake gave it away. Or maybe it was because Hiro, too, was an actor that he could see through this one. In short, it didn't even look like Hiro believed him.

“You can’t lie to me, Tadashi,” Hiro told him. “You feel bad about something. You always hurt yourself when you do.” Hiro felt especially insulted that his brother thought he could fool him. “Tell me the truth. You scared me half to death already, so you owe me that much.”

"Okay, so I felt bad about something. What else do you need to know?" It wasn't like it could have been something brought up so casually. "What else do you want me to say? Do you want me to admit that it's my fault you got shot four times and was almost eaten alive? Do you want me to admit that I regret separating at all?"

That was what Hiro wanted to hear. “It’s not your fault. You didn't mean to leave me alone.” They hadn't seen the bullet coming.

"I should have followed you. Even with a god damn bullet in my hand, I still could have followed you." Maybe he was setting his expectation of himself a little too high here, but he was supposed to protect his brother. How was he to do that if he couldn't do something as simple as staying with him?

"Tadashi." Hiro grabbed his shoulders. “You’re just a human, like everyone else,” he told him. “You can fall victim to instincts, too. Even then, you’re still the best brother in the world.” He made sure to look him straight in the eye to amplify his seriousness.

Tadashi looked away from his brother and sighed. Sometimes he forgot that about himself; that he was human. Sometimes he forgot that he still did things a normal human did. Sometimes that was a good thing, others… well it wasn’t. Having been reminded now, he pulled his brother into a hug, a horrible weight lifted from his shoulders. Suppose he could let easy on himself for a little. “Thanks…”

“That’s the most sincere positive thing you've said in a while,” Hiro commented, smirking a bit. “Now, promise you’ll take care of yourself from now on.” He waggled his finger in front of Tadashi’s face for effect, as if their ages were swapped.

“Now that’s just rubbish! I've said positive things before!” Tadashi was half-tempted to slap himself and half-tempted to hang himself upside-down to think of the last time he’d said something positive. “I… I think I said something… I dunno what I said, but I’m pretty sure it was a good thing to say!”

"Sure, you said positive things before, but not for a while," Hiro emphasized. "Now focus on the important thing: take care of yourself from now on. I want my brother to die an old man. Really old." Again, he waggled his finger. "Promise me."

Once again, he looked away. He’d already promised that Hiro and Aunt Cass would make it to the end of this hell. Now he was supposed to promise that he’d live to his elder years? How was he supposed to do that? “I promise I won't do anything too stupid later,” Tadashi said and lightly pushed his brother off of him as he stood up.

Close enough, Hiro decided as he stood up as well. He then took Tadashi's hand and pulled. "I think there's some leftover breakfast. Eat something now!" He led his brother to the pot, the food inside cooling down. It hardly looked appetizing, rotten once more, but he didn't comment.

Tadashi sat down and pulled Hiro down with him. “When was the last time you ate?” he asked. “Because if it’s been a day, I’m dunking your head in this thing until you’re full.” Of course he wouldn't actually do that, but he knew it would get through Hiro’s thick skull of what he really wanted his brother to do right now.

Hiro grumbled a bit and pushed his plate away. The food looked as rotten as ever and he was losing his appetite. “You eat first,” he muttered. “I want to make sure the food isn’t poisonous.”

Tadashi mocked a look of hurt. “So you’re willing to let me die of food poisoning for your own safety? I’m hurt, baby brother.” He then smiled and ruffled Hiro’s hair. “Okay, how about this; I’ll take the first bite, and if I’m not dead within the next minute, it’s safe, okay?”

Hiro still didn’t look convinced, so Tadashi sighed and pulled him into his lap. “Close your eyes and imagine the food is something Mom used to cook for us when we were younger, yeah?” He waited until his little brother couldn’t see anything, and then he took a spoonful of the food and put it to Hiro’s mouth. “Don’t think about what it looked like earlier.”

Nodding, the youngest Hamada opened his mouth to let the food in and swallowed it down. Despite it not tasting as good as what he’d imagined, he found it easier to handle eating. “You’re a genius, Tadashi.”

His older brother only chuckled. “I know I am.”

As soon as everyone was done eating and Tadashi shook his brother violently to “help him get his vision back,” they all decided to rest a little longer before they started moving again.

“It hadn’t hit me until now, but I don’t remember what our last home looked like.” He only remembered bits and pieces of a few rooms, but he wasn’t sure why it was like that. They'd only recently left their old shelter.

He hadn't thought about it, but Hiro knew Tadashi was right. They were across the country from their home at this point. “Yeah. I almost forgot what our real home looked like.” He nearly forgot what their parents looked like, too. What did their corpses look like now? Were they nothing more than skeletons? He almost wanted to go back to find out. “I miss home…”

“Aye, so do I…” Tadashi sighed and put the utensil down. He felt almost full, or maybe he just wasn't as hungry as he was before. As long as he’s got some food in his stomach, he would he okay.He then stood up and picked Hiro up with him, much to the teen’s dismay. “So, how was your oh-so-amazing near day fright?” he asked. “Anything exciting happen while I was out?”

“Nothing exciting, now put me down,” Hiro said as he squirmed. “I can walk. My leg hardly hurts anymore.” Well, that was a lie, but he had more important things to worry about than his leg. Guarding his brother, for example (or so he would claim).

“You can't lie to me, Hiro,” Tadashi said, parroting his brother’s earlier words. “Your leg doesn't feel any better, does it?” Hiro told him to not lie.

Hiro frowned. “No, it doesn’t,” he admitted. “It still really hurts, but I can still stand and walk. I just did that a few minutes ago.” He was surprised that he hadn't noticed before, but maybe he had just been too happy to notice. After all, his brother just woke up.

Tadashi sighed, refusing to put his brother down. “Then you’re not allowed to walk until it does feel better, knucklehead.” His brother was such an idiot sometimes (then again, so was he). If it really hurt, he shouldn't have been walking around on it anyway.

Now a pout. “You just woke up after more than a day. How are you back to normal so quickly?” Then he felt the slightest tremors. “Sit down! You're not strong enough yet!” Again, he began squirming, almost successfully rolling out of Tadashi’s arms.

The elder Hamada, however, kept a firm grip on his brother. He sat down as he was told, but didn't let go of Hiro. "I'm sitting," he said simply. "Now take a rest, too, or else I'll start walking around again."

Grumbling, Hiro settled down and became limp. “You can lie down now,” he muttered before closing his eyes. “We're both resting, okay?” Now he could rest easier, knowing that his brother wasn't going to turn at all.

"Okay." Tadashi laid down and hugged his brother, almost as if he was afraid to let him go. "Okay..." He closed his eyes and, for a moment, all was well. Hell on Earth never existed. This apocalypse never happened.

Hiro was never hurt.

Now he was beginning to see his brother in the dark end of an alley, being shot four times by monsters, his worst fear coming in to greet, and now he was seeing his brother being eaten alive along with the other men with him.

And he found himself sitting up, wondering when he'd fallen asleep.

“Dashi?” That was Hiro, alive and well.

Tadashi began calming down. His brother was alive, not eaten. If only he also didn’t have four bullet holes in the leg, but he supposed that not everything could go his way. “It’s nothing. I just… had a nightmare, nothing more.”

Hiro never was comfortable whenever his brother had nightmares. They were always about someone getting hurt; someone he cared about. "Nii-chan, can you tell me what your nightmare was about?" he asked, becoming more awake by the second. "Please?"

The man made no attempt to answer. Instead, he just hugged his brother tightly. “I’m so glad they found you,” he whispered, trying to comfort himself. “So glad.” He didn't want to talk about past regrets. They should already be past that, and yet Tadashi still couldn't get over the fact that Hiro could have been dead right now.

Ah. Hiro nodded and leaned into the embrace. "Well... Hey, at least it was those guys who died instead of me," he said in a light tone, hoping to help his brother cheer up a little. "At least we don't have to worry about that gang anymore, right? Less trouble for us." He wasn't sure if he was being an asshole or if he was trying to cheer up Tadashi. He didn't know anymore.

And he really didn't regret joking about their deaths. To be quite honest, they were asking for it.

Tadashi rolled his eyes. After seven years of this hell hole, he would have to expect a death joke or two. He hummed in agreement, though he wasn't sure if the gang was done for. They had only seen the lackies, so far. He had a feeling that the infected weren't yet the only things they had to deal with.

“Tadashi…?” Hiro didn't exactly expect his brother to answer him truthfully, but that was okay with him. Tadashi never asked him what his nightmares were about, possibly because he already knew about them. “In your nightmare, did something happen to me?” He felt a little self-centered for asking, but he was pretty sure Tadashi knew that he didn't mean it in the way it sounded. “Did I die?”

There was a hum, as if Tadashi wasn't sure. "Almost, but you were in the worst pain." He didn't want to go into details. "I don't want to think about it anymore." He had to move on. If he kept dwelling on this, how can he expect to stay focused on protecting his family?

In the worst pain, huh? Figuring that that would have been the most he’d ever get, he stopped asking questions. Instead, he decided to say, “Explain to me why humans feel pain again?” It was like a bedtime story to him. The more he heard it, the more boring it got. So of course, it would pull him to sleep. “C'mon, like you used to do when I was… I dunno, ten?”

Before Tadashi could say anything, he smelled something strange. He soon found that there were two plates of mush next to him, set there by their aunt. Inwardly, he groaned, knowing that he would have to give a long explanation and then receive a long scolding.

“What are you looking so pale for?” said Aunt Cass cheerfully. “Eat up. We're moving again tomorrow and you’ll need all the strength you can get.” She sat next to them. “Did you have a nice sleep?”

Well… That was new. Hiro sort of expected her to have pulled Tadashi’s ear again or something, but suppose the relief was still taking some time to settle in. He pitied his brother, however, for he’d get a much harder ear pull, despite being an adult. “Y'know, I think it’s funny that you're a full-grown adult and you’re still kinda like a Mommy’s Boy.”

Tadashi sent Hiro a brief glare before turning towards their aunt. “It’s about time we start moving again, I guess,” he commented before sighing. “Sorry. I didn't mean to hold everyone back.”

“Hold up,” Hiro said and smacked his brother’s face. “You’re supposed to eat, idiot.” Normally, slapping someone that was older than you was considered rude and disrespectful. To the Hamadas, apparently, it was something you did if your family member was being an idiot.

Another glare. "You're smacking your brother right after he just woke up? How dare you," he mock-scolded before returning the smack. "Learn your manners, respect your elders." He smacked him again, now struggling to keep a serious face.

Hiro puffed out a cheek and smacked his brother again. “You’re being a dumbass. Eat your food.” He smacked him upside the head and then pushed the food into his hands. “Eat it, or else I’m gonna go for a walk.”

Tadashi set down the meal and trapped Hiro in his arms. "You shall not walk,” he told him. "No walking for a few weeks." He rested his chin in the nest of hair. "You stay right here."

Aunt Cass giggled at their antics. "It's as if you were never in a coma," she commented. “Ah, we need to plan tomorrow out. Tadashi, you probably shouldn't carry Hiro so soon. We found a wheelchair earlier today, so we can put that to use."

Hiro began to pout and he reached out for the food. He placed it in Tadashi’s hands and leaned back. “So… Who’s gonna sit in this wheelchair? I don’t trust Tadashi to be able to walk since he’s just recently recovered and I don’t want him randomly falling when we’re walking.”

“You’re the one with the bullet leg, so you sit,” Tadashi said. “I’ll push the wheelchair and use it to support myself. There, we have a plan.”

“Okay, and what if you stumble and I slam into a car?” Though that was sort of unlikely, he had to ask the question. “Are you really sure that you can walk? And don’t you dare lie.”

“I can walk, no need to worry about crashing into any cars.” He was starting to wonder if his own overprotectiveness had rubbed off on his brother somehow. Was this what he was like over the years? “I had enough rest and I don’t plan on forcing myself to stay up all night anymore, okay?”

"Right, right, that's what they all say." Hiro crossed his arms, but let them fall a second later. Soon he was trying to wriggle out of his brother’s grasp, while taking his food in the process. Looking down at it, his face twisted to disgust. It looked rotten again… He set it aside and then tried to get back to his feet. “I’ll believe it,” he started and huffed when Tadashi didn't let him go, “when I see it.”

"You can both sit on the wheelchair," Aunt Cass suggested, rolling her eyes. "There, everyone is happy." She was at least sure that the wheelchair could support the brothers. Even if it was made for one person, Hiro wasn't very heavy anyway.

Hiro wanted to walk a little, but he wouldn't argue with his aunt. Suppose if he wanted to walk, he’d have to wait until his brother as asleep or something. “Aunt Cass, am I allowed to walk sometimes during the trip?” he asked. “I don't want to be sitting on my ass for another seventy-two hours.

“Well, you have to use your leg again sometime,” the woman replied before her eldest nephew could say anything. “Tadashi, I know you worry about Hiro, but he has to use his legs sometimes. He’s not asking to walk the whole way.”

“I promise I’ll sit back down somewhere when it starts hurting too much.” It wasn't like he was actually going to keep walking just because he wanted to. “And I won’t slow you guys down, if that’s what you’re so worried about.”

Before any more words could be said, Tadashi felt a rough slap on the back. “So, we found a wheelchair!” It was Fred. “Lucky us, right? Now you don’t have to worry about carrying your little bro everywhere.” He took a seat by them, the gathering no longer consisting of only Hamadas. “Bet Wasabi wishes there were two, though. We found a wheelchair, but he still has to carry last night’s watchdog.”

“You’re telling me you guys immediately thought of Hiro when you found the wheelchair?” Tadashi asked incredulously. Now he felt bad. “Really, I can carry my little brother. Save the chair for whichever poor sap has to stay up all night.

“I can walk.” If Tadashi claimed that he could carry him, he could claim that he’d be able to use his legs (even if it wasn't entirely true). “So give the wheelchair to poor watchdog.” He felt that cold stare burning through his head in which as probably telling him, “No, you can't, you stay off your feet.”

“Hey, we've already decided, but we can go look for another chair,” Fred shrugged. “So, how’s the wrist? The bite was pretty big.” Looked like it could still bleed, too.

“Hardly noticed it,” Tadashi said, though, now that he thought about it, his wrist still hurt pretty badly. It wasn't unbearable, but what can one expect from a bite? “I still have a hard time believing it. Of all people, why am I immune to the bite?” He wondered if whatever turned infected was still in his bloodstream.

“I mean, I understand that you don’t know the answer to your question, hence you asking it, but we all kind of made it clear that we really don’t know,” Hiro trailed off with a small smile, indicating he was half-joking and half-serious. “Let’s just call you _extremely_ lucky and leave it at that, because I’ve got no answer for you.”

"Well, luck is going to run out eventually." He had nothing else to say on the topic, so he decided to change it. "Now eat your dinner already. You haven't touched the plate at all." The sooner he ate, the sooner they could sleep, and the sooner morning will come so they could move on.

What a great way to get off the old topic. Hiro sighed and pushed the plate away. While he didn't want his brother to worry as much, he also didn't want to eat the food. Tadashi could force-feed him again if he wanted, but he didn't want to eat it willingly. “I touched the plate, just not the food.”

"Smartass." In moments, the Hiro-feeding commenced.

* * *

 Tadashi wasn't sure when he woke up, but he knew it must have been a few hours. Right next to him, he could feel Hiro beginning to shiver from yet another nightmare. It was quickly dispelled, however, when the man began to ruffle his brother's hair.

"Well, you're extremely early," GoGo commented. She must have been tonight's watchdog. "Good, might as well have this discussion now, while you're awake."

“Did you try to have it while I was asleep or something?” Tadashi wasn't entirely sure if that was a safe move, but it really wasn't like he cared at the moment. “What do you want to talk about?” If it was about being immune, he was going to flip.

"Your brother. That's who we'll talk about," she replied. "We need to talk about how attached he is to you." The words had an air of irritation, but her tone was more of concern. "Right after you passed out and we found out you got bit, he was hysteric, all screams, tears, and denial. I guess that ended up being a good thing, but that's another topic. Even while you were unconscious, he wouldn't leave your side."

“GoGo, there’s nothing wrong with someone being in denial about something like this,” Tadashi replied, his tone taking to a growl. “If you had an older or younger sibling, I’m sure you would be in denial as well. Shooting them right in the head wouldn't be something you could do so easily. I don’t care how tough you try to make yourself, you’re not any different from a real human being.” This woman made it sound so easy when it really wasn't. She made it sound like you could shoot your own family within the blink of an eye. It sort of irritated Tadashi in a way.

"Don’t change focus, we’re talking about Hiro,” GoGo said, apparently unfazed. “Most would merely be depressed for a little while and move on. He was latching onto you, even with that traumatic fear he has, even knowing that you might end up biting him if you turned. He acted as if he couldn't conceive of living without you. He’s too attached, and thus likely too dependent on you.”

“I walked into this discussion thinking that I wouldn't be irritated in the morning. Seems I was wrong.” He sighed and turned from her. “I’ll worry about my brother, you worry about your group. I can take care of him.” He knew Hiro was dependent, he knew that it wasn't a good thing, but he didn't want to force his brother to go against these things when he didn't want to. He wanted to make sure Hiro was mentally ready to be able to hunt like the adults before letting him on to the field.

A mildly frustrated sigh. “In case you forgot, we’re one group now,” she told him. “Second of all, you won’t be able to take care of him forever. You lucked out once, but what if you die tomorrow? Or what if Hiro is left alone again? I’m amazed he’s still alive even now, with that behavior of his.”

“I can take care of myself as well. This was just one time that I passed out and that was because of how I was treating myself.” GoGo didn't seem like the type to actually start caring about people other than her circle of friends. So it irked Tadashi to have her start talking to him about his brother sort of behind his back. “I'm done talking.”

“Did you consider that maybe you and your aunt aren't the only ones who care about Hiro?” GoGo questioned. “I’m only saying this because I want to make sure he can survive in this hellhole. Sure, we're near the shelter, but there’s a chance that it could be overrun, or you might get killed even after we arrive, plenty of possibilities.”

“It’s great that you care about Hiro,” Tadashi said and held his brother tighter, as if he was silently promising that he wouldn't let him go. “And I know the possibilities. If you really think that I go by every day without thinking that, you’re wrong. I worry constantly and I hate having to think about it. Hiro’s slowly maturing as well, so just leave it.”

“Just don’t let him take too much time, okay?” The conversation was over, it seemed. “Now go back to sleep. We don’t need you to pass out again.” With that, GoGo scanned their surroundings. A few silhouettes could be seen in the distance, but they didn't seem to take notice of the group.

Tadashi sighed with relief at the end of the conversation and he buried his nose in the crow’s nest of hair. He wouldn't leave Hiro alone, not on purpose. He just needed to help his brother with some things, nothing more. He just needed to make sure that Hiro could handle himself in any situation, so that he wouldn't have to be so worried.

That’s all.

 

 


	10. Notes

Sorry for the long wait, you guys. So here are some little updates on our progress:

* StoryJoker's been through some tough stuff in the personal life, so a lot of inspiration or story ideas went down the drain.

* I somehow landed my ass in a hospital because I got super sick and I've been having writer's block. It's terrible, I'm sick of it. Anyway, we're trying to get working on the story, so please give us a little more time (I'd say like a day or two) to get our shit together. This story will definitely be out and finished before KH3!

♣ Don't make promises you can't keep, buddy. ~StoryJoker

* Shut it, we're going to do this. We have 24-48 hours.

* And when I said "we're going to do this" and then I thought we could do it, it turned out I was wrong. WELP. Sorry, Persona 5 has me distracted, I love it so much


	11. Last Announcement

Okay, so we've tried and tried and tried to write the next chapter, and I know I said I wanted to finish this story, but the problem is that it's become a chore. What's more, Mystery can't remember the plot nor any of the characters, and my interests have gone away. I'm sorry to all those who read the story, been waiting all these years, only to be met with two announcements in a row like this, but we can't do this anymore.

Thank you for enjoying the story. If anyone wants to pick it up or rewrite it, we won't stop you. For now, it looks like we're orphaning the story.

Again, I'm sorry.

~StoryJoker


End file.
